Is This The End? A Love Story
by merigirl
Summary: Road Rovers: When Bush wins the election, Hunter realises he has to leave the White House with the Clintons, and he might have to resign from the Road Rovers and be separated from Colleen his one true love!What can they do to be together? Can love win?
1. Chapter 1

I don't own any of the Road Rovers or the show. If I did, they would never have been canceled!

Personal Note: I like President Bush, this is just a 'what if' story. Nothing against him personally at all.

Two doves upon the selfsame branch,

Two lilies on a single stem,

Two butterflies upon one flower:-

Oh happy they who look on them

- Christina Rossetti

The late summer sun shone brightly upon the sand on the beach as Hunter and Colleen were finishing an afternoon jog, Hunter in bright red shorts and a white T-shirt, Colleen in blue shorts and a white tank top. Her long hair was in a ponytail in the back that flapped in the breeze. They stopped at the entrance to Headquarters and sat on the top steps, out of breath but laughing happily. They both took a drink from their water bottles and Colleen took her hair out of the ponytail, combing it out.

"Thanks for running with me today, Huntie!" she smiled at him.

"No problem," Hunter said smiling. "I almost beat ya today!"  
"No ya didn't!"

"Did so!"

"Oh, stop it, we were neck and neck and you know it!"

"Ya, I know, but I'll beat ya tomorrow!" Colleen laughed.

"Not if I can help it," Colleen said with a happy smile. Hunter knew she was only teasing. They often ran together on the beach, joking about who could outrun who. Colleen always won and Hunter always teased her about beating her the next day. Colleen enjoyed these times together greatly. It was one of her favorite parts of the day, just some time to spend with her best friend…and the one she cared about more than anything. She smiled tenderly at Hunter…but he seemed to be staring out into the horizon with a faraway look on his face. Colleen touched his arm. "Huntie-Wuntie?"

"Hmm?" he asked, turning towards her.

"Something wrong?"  
"No, not really, I was just thinking."

"What about?"

"Oh, you know, about the elections. I can't BELIEVE they still haven't made up their minds in Florida!"

"Oh, yeah, I know, It wasn't like that the last time was it, Huntie?"  
"No…" he gave a bit of a laugh. "Guess I'm just wondering who's gonna win. Yeah, me and the rest of the USA, right?" he laughed a bit. He smelled the air. "Mmm…Shag's cooking supper. Smells great!"

"You got any plans for tonight, Huntie?"

"Nope, not really, why?"

"I was gonna watch a movie tonight. Care to join me?"

"Which movie?"

Colleen smiled. "Lady And The Tramp."

"Cool, one of my favorites!"

'Mine too!"

Hunter smiled tenderly at her and took her hand. "Guess that's one of the reasons you're one of my best friends."

"And you're mine," Colleen said. "So, see you there?"

"I'll make the popcorn after dinner and meet you there!"

After dinner Hunter had made a big bowl of popcorn and grabbed some Pepsis while Colleen loaded the DVD in. She and Hunter sat down upon the sofa to watch one of their favorite movie. Colleen made sure to sit as close as she could get to Hunter. Hunter would pick up the bowl of popcorn and offer it to her. She smiled at him and he smiled back. She reached up to the light on the table next to them. "Huntie, do you mind if I turn this down?"

"No, not at all." She turned it down to a dim, romantic light. When they got to the 'Bella Notte' scene, Hunter sighed as the plate of spagetti was being brought out. "Most romantic scene in a movie ever."

Colleen moved closer to Hunter. "I agree, Huntie," she moved closer to him as the beautiful melody of the song began to reach both of them. Slowly, slowly, so she didn't seem to forward or scared him, she began to lean her head against his shoulder. Hunter automatic ally put his arm around her, pressing her close to his side as the poetic words of the romantic scene unfolding in front of them filled the room. A small breeze flew in from the open window, causing some of Colleen's hair to fly a bit. Hunter gentily pushed her hair behind her ear. Slowly he bright his hand down and covered hers with it. Colleen lifted her feet and curled them under her legs. Hunter gentily began to massage her hand slowly, tenderly. Colleen looked up at him and smiled. Hunter smiled back at her. Colleen laid her head on his shoulder again, and Hunter slowly laid his head on hers, pulling her close, continuing to stroke her hand.

"I'd love to do that for you someday," Hunter confessed.

"Ya mean a spagetti date, Huntie?" Colleen whispered as her heart began to flutter in her body.

"Yeah.." he said. "The White House chef ca prepare a great spagetti dinner..next time he does it I can take you with me!"

Colleen grinned from ear to ear. "I'm love that, Huntie."

Hunter smiled. "Our own little Bella Notte..just you and me.." Hunter said to her. He moved his arm all the way across her back and pulled her even closer. Colleen tilted her head back slowly and began to close her eyes. Hunter moved closer and ever closer to her……

"Comerades, quick, turn on TV, now!!" Came a familiar loud voice as Exile quickly raced into the room and turned on the light, followed by Blitz and Shag. They surprised Hunter and Colleen. Into quickly pulling apart. Colleen gave Exile a filthy look behind his back.

"What's going on, Exile?" Hunter said, sounding a bit annoyed as well.

"The election, Comrade! It's on the news, Florida has finally decided! They're ready!"

"They are?!" Hunter asked eagerly. "Really? It's finally happening?!"

"You betski! It's on right now!" Hunter began to turn on the news and noticed Colleen.

"I'm sorry, Colleen. Tell you what, I'll make it up to you. Right after we see the news I'll send everyone out of the room and we'll rewind the whole scene. Promise!" Colleen nodded her head, but looked darkly at Exile when his back was turned.

As the Rovers were watching the news, waiting for Florida to announce their decision, Colleen noticed out of the corner of her eye that Hunter was leaning forward eagerly, more curious than anyone else in the room as to what the outcome of this election was going to be. "OK, we have the results," the announcer on the TV said. "And, according to Florida.." Hunter gripped Colleen's hand tightly and leaned forward eagerly. "It looks like our new President of the United States will be.." Hunter held his breath and leaned closer. "George W. Bush!" Hunter's face fell and his mouth hung open. Exile, Blitz, and Shag mumbled among themselves, but Hunter, almost in a daze let go of Colleen's hand and went into his bedroom. Out of curiosity, Colleen got up and followed him.

When she came to Hunter's bedroom, she knocked on her closed door and waited for the 'Come in." Peaking in, she saw Hunter huddled sadly upon his bed, with his chin between his hands, staring up at the celing. She couldn't help but notice that his eyes were teary. Colleen climbed up and sat down next to him. "Huntie?" she asked. Hunter looked at her sadly.

"Hi, Colleen," he said.

"Huntie? What's the matter? What's wrong?"

Hunter looked at his clasped hands in front of him. "It's happened, Colleen." he sighed. "It's over.."

"The election? I know, Huntie. What is it?"

Hunter looked up into Colleen's eyes. "I was hoping it was gonna be Gore that won the election, Colleen. Mr Gore and his family always liked me, I know they would try to fight to keep me. But I know Mr Clinton would never give me to Mr. Bush! Colleen," he choked up. "I don't think I can be a Road Rover anymore!"

Colleen gasped loudly. "What?! But, Huntie, why?!"

'I don't even know where the Clintons are going to take me! THEY don't even know, I heard them arguing about it at the White House this morning. Anyway, it's already October! The Clintons are leaving in January! That's not enough time for Master to build a tube leading to Headquarters! In a few months..I have to leave!"

Colleen hugged him close to her. "Oh, Huntie, this can't be true! There HAS to be a way!" Hunter hugged Colleen close to him and stroked her hair gentily, trying to hide the tears that were building inside of him.

"I don';t think there's any other." Hunter whispered. "I have to go with them! I'm a Road Rover, and Road Rovers are good, good dogs. It's not like I can run away…and it's not like I can leave hium!"

Colleen started to cry. "Huntie.." she said softly,

"Please don't cry, Colleen," Hunter said, holding her in his arms again. He pressed her close to him, burying his hand in her hair. He stroked it carefully, putting some of it in the back of her ear. "Colleen…" he whispered, pulling away to gaze into her eyes. Slowly he raised her face up to his….and slowly bright his lips down on hers. The kiss deepened as he slid his arms down and slipped them underneath her arms, wrapping them around her back as he pulled her closer.

Colleen felt as if her heart was gonna burst it was beating to fast and so hard. She wrapped her arms around his neck as the kiss grew and grew. She stroked the side of his face tenderly as they slowly pulled away. "Colleen," Hunter whispered. "Do you know how long I've wanted to kiss you like that?"

"I do know how long, Huntie," she said. "It's how long I've wanted you to kiss me like that." Hunter wrapped his arms around her again.  
'Please forgive me, Colleen. Please.."

"For what?"

He pulled away and looked into her eyes. "That I didn't tell you this sooner. It's just…I've never had..I've never…I've never been in love before. Not with anyone, ever. " he pulled away and looked at the ground. "I've spent a lot of my adult years on the streets or in an animal shelter where we just had out own cages and couldn't talk to anyone else. I've never had a girlfriend, ever…and in a way I didn't know what being in love meant. "he took Colleen's hand and held it in his lap. "I know I felt something different with you, Colleen. At first I thought it was just because we became best friends…but now I realise..oh God, I found this out too late, how I really feel. This..must be love..it has to be. "He looked at her seriously. "I love you, Colleen."

'I love you, too, Huntie," she whispered tightly. "Maybe part of this was my fault,. I should have been more understanding. Should have told you straight out how I felt."

'I don't know if that would have made much of a difference," Hunter admitted. "Cause I was so unsure until now…yeah, now. I'm leaving the Rovers…and I just realised I'm leaving the dog I love!" He held his head in his hands.

"Oh Huntie, don't cry." Colleen said. Holding him. Hunter gazed at her and pulled hr into his arms in a passionate kiss.

A little while later Colleen emerged from Hunter's room looking like her entire world was ending. Her arms were folded in front of her and her eyes were glued to the ground. Exile turned around surprised at what he saw before him. Colleen looked sad, depressed, truly miserable. He wondered what was going on.

Blitz stood up then and came towards her. "Hi, Pretty Girl, why do you look so sad?"

"Mind your own business, Puffy Lips," Colleen said angrily, marching into her room.

"Oh, somebody needs some fresh air! Say, why don't we go for a nice walk on the beach...just you and me.." That did it. Colleen whirled around to face Blitz angrily. She opened her mouth to say something, but tears choked her.

"Just leave me alone!!" Colleen said. "Shut up and leave me alone!" she raced into her room and slammed the door. Sobs were heard from it. Exile and Blitz looked at each other curiously. Not only was Colleen not a crier…what was she crying about? Exile walked over to Colleen's room and knocked on her door.


	2. Broken Heart

Exile followed the sobbing Colleen into their closd bedroom door. He knocked cautiously on it. "Comrade?" he called out. He knocked again. "Colleen? You Doakie-Oakie? it's me, Exile. Can I come in?" he waited for the 'Sure,' and then he opened the door, taking in the sight that met his eyes. Colleen was sitting by her dresser, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. She looked like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. So depressed. No, not just depressed, Exile thought. Sad. Colleen looked truly sad. "Comrade Colleen,. What is wrong? "

"Nothing,": she whispered.

"My friend, you are sitting here crying, This is not like you. What has happened? Maybe I can help."

"No, Exile..you can't help me…no one can help.."

"Maybe I can. What is wrong, tell me."

COlleen took a deep breath. "Sit down, Exile." Exile sat down on the nearest chair. "Exile..I'm afraid there's bad news."

"It is really bad?" Colleen nodded. "What is it?"

"Hunter is leaving us, Exile."

Exile shot up from his place. "WHAT?!"  
'It's true," Colleen said, willing herself not to cry again, "Bush won the election tonight. Beecause of that the Clintons are leaving the White House in January, and they're taking Hunter with them."

"But…but Hunter can say here, can't he? We have rooms, we have food, we have beach.."

'You know he can't do that, Exile. He's too good and loyal of a dog to leave his Master no matter what he feels." 

Exile sighed. "You are right,. Never was there a more loyal and kindhearted dog. He is such wonderful leader! We NEED him! He is tape that fastens whole group together!"

"Right," Colleen said slowly.

"Wouldn't Master have known about this? Can't he build tube.."

"Build it where, Exile? The Clintons have no clue where they want to go yet! Hunter says they were stil arguing about it when he came here. He doesn't know where he's going, how can Master know?"

"Bulshanoi, this is tragedy to everyone involved! What are we gonna do without him! How can this happen? How can tea break up like this?!

Colleen started sobbing again. "I don't know, Exile. And I have no clue what we're gonna do without him…I don';t even know what _I'm _going to do without him!"

Exile looked at her, understanding. "I do understand how you must feel. We all know how close you and Hunter are!

"We're a LOT more than that, Exile," Colleen confessed. "Exile,. I'm in love with him! "

"Exile looked at her surprised. "Yoy're in lov with him?"  
"And he's in love with me too. Oh, Exile we admitted it to each other just tonight. Then.,.he kissed me!"

"He kissed you?" 

"Or I kissed him, or we kissed each other…it just happened! Not like we planned it. But..we know how we feel now about each other..and then this happened to us!"

'Bulshoi! This is truly hard for you Comrade, and I'm so sorry! " he looked down. "Do you think we should try talking to the Master about this?"

"I don't know what good it ca do, after all no on knows yet where the Clintons will ov to. And I don't think it';s right to give the one who gave us our powers a piece of our minds, considering." Exile nodded,. He did love being a Road Rover…buit he also lovd his friends, in particular Hunter. He thought ad thought about what to do, if they could do anything, Hunter was such a valuable member of this team, they couldn't just let him go! Colleen started sobbing again, and all xile could do was pat her shoulders and giv her some ore tissues. "Comrade?" he sauid. "You know what I think you should doski?"

"What?"

"Well, seeing as how you and Hunter do feel like this about each other..just spend as much time with each other as you can in the time you have left. Like I once told Hunter, you must make time for important things, Comrade. And what you and Hunter have is VERY Important! Do as much as you can together. Find lots of time. It's there, just look for it."

Colleen nodded and gave Exile a sad smile. "That ight be all we have. Thanks, Exile. But, Exile?"

"Yes, Ccomrade?" 

"Please don';t tell anyone here what we talked about just now. Let's keep it our secret. I think Hunter would want to tll everyone himself, when he's ready. He's so upset, I know he;s nowhere near ready for everyone crowding around giving him sympathy."

"I do understand, Comrade. I will be quiet as cricket."'

The next day the Master called the Rovers to the Main room at Headquarters. "Gather around, Rovrs. You have a busy mission ahead." Hunter and Colleen kept exchanging glances from their seats. Glancesof love and sadness. "We have just received words that two feuding nations in the middle east have been found buying mysterious weapons from the same benefactors.

"Havoc strikes again!" Exile said.

"Let me at him to bite some Geeral tooshies!" Blitz said.  
"Don';t be a weird boy," xile answered.

"Your Mission, Rovers, fly to the Middle East and put a stop to Havoc!"

"Yes, Sir!" The Rovers said, geting up 

"Let's hit the Road, Rovers!" Hunter said causing a group howl which Exile and Colleen did sadly, knowing this might be one of the last few times to do it.

"OK, Rovers. Blitz, Shag, take Muzzle and go in the Cloud Rover, Exile, Colleen and I will follow in the sky Rover." Hunter said as they entered the vehicle room. Exileglanced at Coleen and shook his head.

"Nyet, Hunter, Why don't you and Colleen take Sky Rover?" I can go with Blitz, Shag, and Muzzle. Quickly he followed Blitz into the Cloud Rover.


	3. Wind Beneath My Wings

Hunter and Colleen were flying in the Cloud Rover alone together. In a way it was sweet and rather intimate to be alone together in the sky, just the two of them. Colleen looked tenderly at Hunter. Hunter returned her gaze, reached over for her hand and kissed it gentily. Colleen couldn't help but notice, though, that his gaze was a mixture of love and guilt. "What's on your mind, Huntie?"

"He sighed. "I'm still so sorry it took me so long to fully see how I feel about you, Colleen. We were together all the time, and I never told you about these feelings that were growing cause I _had_ to be so sure. Now we only have a few months together, and _now_ I know! "

Colleen squeezed his hand . "It's not your fault, Huntie. Please don't keep saying that. Neither one of us really knew what was going to happen." She leaned back against the seat. "I've been talking to Exile, and he said that you and I should just concentrate on spending as much time together as we possibly can! We should take every moment we can get together."

Hunter smiled and turned to Colleen. He pulled the plane up higher so he could put it on auto-pilot and turned to Colleen. He took her paws in his and gazed into her eyes. "I really do love you, Colleen. I know it took me so long to say that, and I'm sorry we don't have a lot of time left. But I want to show you just how much I really do care."

"Oh, Huntie, you've always shown me that! All the times we've worked together,. The times you helped me and you allowed me to help you. Just the times we watched movies together and jogged together. I knew you cared about me, Huntie, just as much as I care about you." Hunter reached over and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, being careful not to let it last too long, reminding himself they were still on a plane.

"Colleen," he whispered. "Have dinner with me tonight. "

"Where?"

"Right on the front porch, I can set up a small table, ask Shag to cook up something really special..and watch the sunset. Just you and me. Then we can hold hands and walk on the beach."

Colleen smiled. "I'd love that, Huntie. "

"It's a date then!" Hunter said, as he turned his attention to the plane once more. When they landed they got out and met Exile and Blitz who were coming out of the Sky Rover. "OK, Rovers, let's try to pick up the scent. Both Hunter and Shag began to sniff the air. "I smell guards, coming down that way!" He pointed to the right. "Let's lie low so we can spy on them better. " The Rovers ducked behind a huge boulder, being quiet so they can hear. Two groups of soldiers were coming from the right holding unique looking guns and equipment. They stood there, waiting. A while later two other soliders came from the left and stood just in front of the two first ones.

"So, here we are?"

"Yes. Did you bring the money?"

One of the soldiers that came from the left held out a huge bag. "Here's the right amount. 10,000, just the right amount the Havoc wanted."

"And here are your weapons. It's been an absolutle pleasure doing business with you. We do hope you will come again!" With a devious grin, the soldiers turned to leave.

"Let's follow those soldiers Rovers!" Hunter said. "They'll lead us right to Havoc!" The Rovers quietly went into their vehicles and took off, being very careful to follow the soldiers, but high up so they could not be seen. Soon the soldiers entered a high up metal fortress that was closely guarded with heavily armed sentries. They landed their vehicles near the back of the fortress and all climbed out. Hunter took in the situation in front of him. "OK, Rovers. I'll keep the guards busy, you al sneak in." The Rovers nodded.

Hunter used his super speed to race up to the sentries and grabbed one of their guns. Quickly he took off, causing the guards to run after him. The other Rovers raced into the back room as Hunter joined them with the gun in his hand. They all took off down the bright white hallway, with Hunter sniffing the air. "There are more guards all over the place. We'd better split up. Exile, Blitz, take Muzzle and go down the left. Shag, you're with me and Colleen."

"Right," Shag said, following behind. When they had gona good ways down, Hunter and Colleen stopped when they heard voices.

"That's the one good thing about the world, where one war ends, you can always find another!' Havoc said. "And this place is so far away, no one can ever find us! we'll sell all these weapons in no time, then sit back and watch the show! Once this land is trash, we sneak in and we claim the ENTIRE land!" Hunter and Colleen exchanged a 'don't be so sure' look as they quietly followed the voice. But soon the way was blocked by at least 30 humungous soldiers. Hunter immediately distracted them by running super fast. Several soliders started chasing them, but Hunter was so fast they immediately lost him. Stopping to ponder where he could have gone, Hunter than took a flying leap from his hiding place on the corner of the celing and punched them out.

"HIYA! DONNA KARAN!! SHANIA TWAIN!!" Colleen cried out, executing her battle moves upon the soldiers. The closest ones were quickly knocked out cold, but the other in the back immediately began to pick up weapons and surround her. "JULIA ROBERTS!! MACARENNA! GEORGE FOREMAN!!" She flipped and kicked, knocking out all the weapons, and knocking THEM out cold. Shag was cowering behind an edge, too late noticing that more soldiers were surrounding him. Hunter raced over to him. "Shag, get your launcher." Shag pulled it out of his fur, but aimed it the wrong way. "No, turn it around!" Shag turned his whole body around and shot. The soldiers that were about to pounce ran off…but not before they got singed by the launcher.

Meanwhile Exile and Blitz were surrounded by their own group of soldiers. "Let the tushie biting begin!" Blitz said, getting out his claws as he began to chase the soliders away. Exile faced his own attackers.

"Bulshinoi! Let's see if they can skate as well as they can attack. "Exile aimed his eyes at the floor as soon a stream of ice formed which the soldiers slid on and quickly got knocked unconscious. They soon moved…until even more soliders surrounded them. Exile and Blitz looked at each other. "The time has come," Exile said.

"I agree," Blitz said as they loosed Muzzle. "LET'S MUZZLE THEM!" thy both said. Muzle quickly went to work. "The horror," Blitz said, covering his eyes.

"Mother Russia," Exile said. Soon Muzzle's work was done and the soliders ran for cover. "I do not think they be bothering us anymore!" Exile said.

Hunter pulled out his headphones. "Exile, come in. We're near where Havoc is. Try to come meet us here as soon as you can."

"Doakie Oakie, Comrade!" Exile said.

Meanwhile Hunter, Shag, and Colleen made their way to the main room. Havoc was sitting in a huge room filled with monitors and buttons. He was on the phone. "Yes, Buddy, oh yes, no problem, I can have those weapons sent over to you tomorrow morning We meet at our usual place? Yes..oh yes I almost forgot to tell you, the price has gone up a notch. How much? About twice the amount Well yes, I know, but there are prime CALIBER weapons! Made of the finest steel with super firing power! Oh yes, all right, se you then!" As soon as he hung up he turned back to his papers. Hunter than gav a signal and he, Colleen, and Shag made their way inside. Havoc looked up. "YOU again?!"

"Afraid so, Havoc! I'm afraid it's over."

"Hah, you did not think I learned my lesson from last time?" He pressed a button on his desk. "Gentilemen, NOW!' Immidiately more doors opened and hundreds of other soldiers began to come out. Fortunately Blitz And Exile joined them.

"I would not have predicted this! OK, Rovers, get them!" All the Rovers quickly engaged in their powersl Blitz took out his claws and began the chase. Exile froze several of them in their tracks. Hunter grabbed his tennis bal shooter and fired several gas covered balls knocking them all out cold.

Colleen, with cries of "SHARON STONE! TOM HANKS!" began knocking all the soldiers out cold. But out of the corner of his eye he saw Havoc starting to sneak out. Hunter quickly used his speed to block the door.

"Going somewhere?" he askd. Havoc turned to run, but Exile stared at him and froze his feet. Hunter grabbed him. "Quick, we'll summon the authorities who'll be happy to give this nut a good home! To The Power of the Pack!" Quickly all the Rovers joined in a group howl. But Exile and Colleen's harts definitely weren't in it. They did a really good job, but they knew they had done it with Hunter's brilliant Leadership./ What would they DO without him?

"You've done a great job Rovers. You're good, good dogs!" Master said when they got home.

"Yes, especially Hunter, Master," Exile said quickly, trying to drop a hint. "He is fantastic Leader! He always knows what to do and we would be nothing without him!"

"I agree, Hunter is a gifted Leader," Master said.

"Aw, that's so nice, Exile," Hunter said, feeling a mixture of being touched beyond belief and so sad he felt like crying when he thought of how much this team meant to him…and how he'd have to leave them soon.

Later that night, Hunter and Colleen were enjoying a beautiful romantic dinner on the front porch of the Headquarters. They were in casual clothes, cause Hunter said he didn't want it being too formal, and he had asked Shag to cook up the most delicious dinner he could find. Hunter stared at the lovely Collie sitting before him. Her freshly washed hair seemed to radiantly glow in the light of the setting sun and her eyes were a lovely piercing blue. He took hr hand gentile and kissed it as he stared a her lovely smile A smile he wouldn't mind seeing again and again. "_I'd do anything for you, Colleen."_ he thought suddenly. "_Nothing on Earth is too good for you!"_

"You did a great job today, Huntie-Wuntie," Colleen said.

"So did you," Hunter agreed. "You always do a fantastic job! I love when you threw that one soldier over your shoulder and socked him right into another..and they both went flying right into the wall!"

Ccolleen laughed. "Thank you, Huntie!" She looked at hi seriously. "Ya know what I really like the most about being on this team…aside from the Leader, of course!' she touched his hand. "Even though I'm the only girl on this team, you've never been condescending to me at all! You've never said this was no place for a woman. You've never said that it's too dangerous for a woman to be here, you've never insisted I stay where I am and let the "men" handle this. You trust me, you let me go places by myself..and you treat me like one of the guys. I appreciate it, I do. You treat me like an equal. "

"You ARE equal!" Hunter said, surprised. "I'd NEVER think of talking down to you like that! In my eyes you're always an equal. You're not one of the guys..you're one of the Road Rovers."

Colleen beamed. "Thanks, Huntie. I know I never told you this, either..but you're without a doubt the nicest, kindest dog I've ever met in me life!"

"So are you," Hunter said, gazing into her eyes. He stood up. "Let's go for a walk, Colleen. The sun is setting, let's enjoy it."

"No need to ask me twice, Huntie," she said, standing up quickly. A little while later they were walking arm in arm along the beach, watching the bright colors the sun mad as is began to sink carefully and slowly in the horizon. Colleen laid her head against Hunter as he put his arm around her. She slid her arm around his waist. Hunter leaned down and kissed her gentily on the top of her head.

"I love you, Colleen," he whispered. "So much."

"I love you, too," she answered. He tilted his face up to his and kissed her on her lips. Colleen threw her arms around him and kissed him back deeply. Hunter grabbed her around her waist and lifted her in the air, kissing her with such love and passion Colleen felt like she was floating on air. "_I don';t want this night to end!" _she thought. _"I want to stay here forever!" _Hunter gazed tenderly into her eyes.

"Did anyone ever tell you, you have the most beautiful eyes in the entire world? They're like sapphires. I love how they look in the moonlight." He set her down and just gazed at her. "Colleen, you're the most wonderful dog in the world. I don't ever want to be parted from you. " He looked down. "Ive nevr told anyone this, Colleen, but all y life, I've felt like there was a part of me that's missing. Even when I was a puppy growing up with my Mom I felt like I was destined for something. When I became a Road Rover I still felt like there was something missing and I was searching y whole life for the missing part But it's not missing anymore!" He looked at Colleen. "I'm in love with you, Colleen. The minute I realized that I knew that I found the missing piece in my life! You're my soul-mate, Colleen, and I know there will never be anyone else."

"I feel the same way about you, Huntie," Colleen agreed. "I don't care if you have to leave or not…I'll never stop loving you, and there will never be another you!"

Hunter stared at her. "Come with me, Colleen!" he said suddenly."

"Huh?"

"Come with me to America, Colleen! I love you and I never want to be apart from you. Please, Colleen, come back with me to Washington DC and live with me..and then we can go wherever Clinton goes together! What I mean is.." he dropped down to one knee in the sand and took her hand in his. "Colleen, I love you more than life. Will you marry me?"

Colleen stared, shocked beyond belief. "Huntie….oh my God..I..I.." she gasped. But then she shook her head as tears filled her eyes. "I have to say no. Oh Huntie, please understand..I can't just pack up and go with you! Me home is London! Just like you can't leave your Master..I can't leave mine either! Oh Huntie, I love you so much, and believe me this is so hard for me to say…but, I can't. I can't marry you, Huntie. My home is London, and I belong there just like you belong in America with Clinton. I'm so sorry…" tears filled her eyes.

Huntr at first lookd like a punctured balloon, but he quickly stood up. "No, I'M sorry, Colleen. I mean, here I am going on and on about how I can't leav my Master and I fully expected you to pack up and leave yours! You're right, I'm a jerk!"

Colleen wiped away her tears. "No you're not, Huntie! You're wonderful!" She embraced him tightly.  
'Yeah, I'm the worlds biggest jerk!"

'Oh, Don't say that!" Colleen said. "I love you, and believe me if there was any other way, I'd marry you in a minute! I would, Huntie! I understand why you did what you did! Believe me, I love you so much!"

"I love you too!" Hunter said, embracing Colleen and kissing her deeply, at the same time knowing a part of him would be dieing very soon.


	4. A Dog Ain't Made Of Stone

__

This part of the story is the first song chapter, there are gonna be a few in here. The song being played is 'A Man Ain't Made Of Stone', by Randy Travis.

A little while later Exile came into the main room of Headquarters after sharing a peppermint milkshake with Blitz (ever since Blitz had made one for him, he had become hooked on the things as well). His eye caught Colleen sitting on the sofa with her chin in her hands, sadly staring at the celing. Exile thought this was odd, wasn't Colleen having dinner with Hunter tonight? He walked up to her and touched her shoulder. "Good evening, Comrade Colleen."

She turned around and smiled sadly. "Hi, Exile."

"Comrade? Are you Doakie-Oakie? Weren't you having dinner with Hunter tonight?"

"Yeah, we did."

"Well, did it not go well? You look so down."

"The dinner went fantastic, Exile. IT was so perfect and so romantic. We ate and talked, and then we walked on the beach.."

"Oh, sounds wonderful. So, why do you look so sad and so confused?"

Colleen sighed. "Exile, do you ever wish you could be in two places at once?'

"Oh sure,. Whereever I am I wish a part of me could be in Russia! Why do you ask?"

Colleen looked around to make sure they were alone. "Exile, you have to promise that you won't tell anyone this..specially Blitz. I don't know what he might say about this."

__

"I won't tell. What has happened?"

"Hunter asked me to marry him!"

With that Exile whooped loudly and grabbed Colleen in a bear hug. "Colleen, that is GREATEST news I ever heard!!! Congradulations, this is wonderful!!!"

"Exile.." Colleen gasped. "I told Hunter no."

Exile set Colleen down. "No?"  
"No," she said softly looking down. "Exile, I can't just pack up and go with him. Me home is in London. Me Master is in London. Mr and Mrs Blair have been nothing bit wonderful to me..and I love them dearly, the way Hunter loves Mr. And Mrs. Clinton and can't leave them. I belong in London the same way Hunter belongs in America."

Exile nodded. "What did Hunter say when you told him that?"

"He was very understanding. He said he saw it y way and actually apologized for proposing to e."

"He APOLOGISED for PROPOSING?"

"Yeah..he was so understanding. But I can tell how he was really feeling. I'll never forget the look on his face. He's the last person on God's Earth I ever want to hurt…and I hurt him big time! He's unlike any dog ever on this earth. He's gentile,. And kind, sweet and understanding. And I broke his heart! What kind of person DOES something like that?!"

"An honest person, Comrade. You told him the truth how you felt. You didn't lead him on or anything, that was the right thing to do."

Colleen sighed. "I Why does doing the right thing hurt so much? I hurt him to the core, yet he's so understanding. Oh Exile, I'm so torn! I'm so confused, what am I gonna do? I love Hunter more than anything on Earth, and I WANT to marry him…but I love London as well. I can't leave my Master, yet I can't bear to be without Hunter!"

Exile sighed. "I wish I could help you with this, but only you can do that. You must decide what you love more, London or Hunter."

"Oh God, I don't know…I just don't know..and we're running out of time."

"Well, what do you think, Hilary?" Bill said a few days later as he and Hilary looked at the picture of the house they had chosen to live in during the summer and when Hilary wasn't campaigning for Senator for New York.

"It's nice, Bill," Hilary said. "Wow, look at the size of that backyard!"

"Yeah, ain't it great! Hunter's gonna love it! Look how much room he's gonna have to run and play!"

"Yeah, well, remember I'm running for New York Senator and I just bought that home in New York. You'll be spending a lot of time THERE helping me, won't you Bill?"

"Hey of course, Hil. But ya know we can't take Hunter with us! The backyard there is way to cramped, he'll be bored beyond belief...and we're not even SURE they'll allow dogs! He's much better off here!"

"I know, Bill. Let's hope the aides take care of him and don't forget to feed him."

"Don't be like that, Hilary. He loves you."

"Oh, I love him too. Sure, he's sweet, and playful, and friendly. But he's a Golden Retriever Mix, he'll be happy just as long as he can run and play."

"He'll be doin plenty of that here. Look, it even has a pond where he can swim! It looks like the backyard leads into the woods, he can do a lot of exploring! Man, if I were a dog I'd be in Heaven!" Hunter, in dog form with a tennis ball in his mouth, came in through the doggie door. Bill turned around. "Hey there, boy! We were just talking about you!" He bent low to pet him. "Where've you been this time, boy? Look, we got something to show ya!" He took the picture of the house and backyard and showed it to Hunter. "Look a here, boy! Here's our brand new home! It's in Arkansas, Ya Daddy's hometown! You're gonna be having some HUGE fun there!" Hunter couldn't believe his ears, they had finally made up their minds. They were going to Arkansas! Arkansas?! That was so far away…TOO far away! "Look, Boy!" Bill said encouragingly. "It's got a BIG backyard for you to run around in..WAY bigger than here! Plus look, it's got all these great hills and even a pond! Whoo-whee, you'll be getting a lot of excercise here. I'll come play with you as much as I can, and when I can't the aides will. You know them, Carol and Frank, and Jess and the rest? Man, you're gonna love it, boy!" But to his surprise Hunter just took the picture in his mouth, whined a bit and padded off sadly with his tail between his legs. To Bill's amazement he walked sadly through the doggie door. "Gee…and I thought he'd be so happy!"

_I was supposed to be the rock that you could stand on  
Stronger than an old oak tree  
But all you ever wanted was the one thing  
I never let you see -  
The tender side of me_

Hunter walked quietly to his doghouse and set down the picture. He sank down with his head on his paws. Sure, thy were going to Arkansas..with a big backyard and a pond..but what good was it? What good was a huge backyard in the country if you had no one special to share it with? "Why didn't I tell her how I felt a long time ago?" Hunter thought. "Why was I so cautious? I should have taken a chance..it's too late now!"

__

I tried to be a mountain, solid and strong  
All it took was your leaving to know I was wrong

A man ain't made of stone  
A man ain't made of steel  
The way I feel right now  
I thought I'd never feel  
Sometimes all it takes  
Is facing the night alone  
And that's when you know  
A man ain't made of stone

All the memories of being a Road Rover filled Hunter's mind, and caused his eyes to fill with tears. It was the beginning of November. Only two months to go…just two months and he'd never see the team…or Colleen…again! One bark came out of him…the translation of which bounced off every wall in the doghouse.

__

"Colleen." he sighed_._

In this world of mine  
There was no room for weakness  
I covered every crack in the wall  
But there ain't no way that I can keep this secret  
Cause when you go like Jerico I fall  
You thought I wouldn't shatter  
Would I even care?  
But there's more to what I'm made of  
Than this broken heart can bear

Hunter look to his side, wishing more than anything Colleen were there with him. But he couldn't ask her to move away from her Master any more than he could be expected to! But, that didn't stop the hurting that was in his heart. __

A man ain't made of stone  
A man ain't made of steel  
The way I feel right now  
I thought I'd never feel  
Sometimes all it takes  
Is facing the night alone  
And that's when you know  
A man ain't made of stone

Sometimes all it takes  
Is facing the night alone  
And that's when you know  
A man ain't made of stone

Hunter felt the tears start dropping..and he put his head on his paws, crying himself to sleep.  
_  
That's when you know  
A man ain't made of stone_


	5. Sometimes When We Touch

A little while later Hunter was at the beach swimming with Colleen. They were laughing, splashing each other with the cool, clear water, and having swimming races. Hunter was having such a wonderful time he almost forgot the tragic news that he knew he had to give to her in a little while. He would have liked to postphone it for as long as possible, but he knew with every day he didn't tell her it would just make it tougher when he finally would. Better to do it that day and get it over with. He was immediately brought back to earth when Colleen jumped him from behind with a small battle cry as she pushed him down into the water. While she was laughing at this, Hunter swam up and came up, lifting her into the air and throwing her into the water. She came up laughing and before she could retaliate Hunter took her into his arms. "This was a good idea, Huntie," she said happily.

Hunter smiled tenderly at her. "How long has it been since we did this?"

"Far too long, Huntie," Colleen agreed.

Hunter pulled her closer to him and looked at the full moon shining on them, highlighting Colleen's lovely reddish-brown tresses. "Have you ever had a moonbeam kiss?"

"What's that?"

"See the full moon up there?" Hunter said, glancing at it. "See how it's shining down right on us? When you kiss by the light of a full moon, it's called a moonbeam kiss. It's a real country boy's specialty."

"Is that true, or did you make that up?"

"I'll never tell," Hunter said, bringing his lips to hers. They kissed tenderly, lovingly in the moonlight. Her arms slid around his neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up. Colleen's heart beat loudly and she felt as if she were floating on air, even though in the back of her mind she knew it was just the water. She wished that time could just sop and they could be there in that water forever and nothing and no one would even bother them again.

"Huntie-Wuntie.." she whispered in his ear.

"Colleen," he said. "Sweet Colleen," as he kissed her again and again. Finally he pulled away from her and looked into her eyes seriously. "Colleen…I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Huntie. Please believe me, I do." Hunter took her in his arms. 

"Colleen, let's get out for a while and change. I need to talk to you, really talk. "

"What is it, Huntie?"

Hunter took a deep breath. "I have some news, Colleen..and I don't think you're going to like it. Can you meet me in my room in a few minutes? We need to talk." Colleen nodded as Hunter got out of the lake and held open a towel. "Come here," he whispered. Colleen walked into the towel, and into his arms. She let him hold her there for a few minutes listening to the water lap against the shore. She reached over and kissed his chest and he kissed the top of her head.

A few minutes later Colleen came into Hunter's room and knocked on the door. A fully clothed Hunter opened it. "Hi, Colleen" he sad solemnly. "Come on in." Colleen entered and closed the door. She knew it was alright for her to be here and sit on the bed. Hunter, in addition to being one of the most noble of the Rovers, was also the most honest. She know that when Hunter said he wanted her to come into his room to talk, he meant that he wanted to talk. JUST talk. He wasn't one of those men who would trick her into coming in for…other reasons. She knew Hunter well enough to trust him. He never lied at all. So when Hunter said he just needed to talk to her, she believed him. She could see it in his eyes. They were sad and troubled, as if what he was going to say was literally tearing him apart.

"What's wrong, Huntie?" she asked.

Huntr sighed. "Well, this afternoon the Clintons were talking. It's happened, Colleen. They've finally made up their minds where they're going to take me."

Colleen leaned forward. "Where, Huntie?"

"Arkansas."

'ARKANSAS?! They're taking you all the way there?"

"Yeah..and how can Master build a tube all the way in Arkansas in addition to the work he has to do here?"

Colleen's eyes filled with tears. "When do you leave?"

"In January. Exactly one month and two weeks from now."

"You're leaving in a MONTH?! I just can't…I don't know…" Hunter pulled the picture out of his pocket to show to Colleen.

"See? Here's the place where I'll be living. The doghouse is gonna be right here, right to the left of the front door. "

Colleen's eyes grew wide. "Wow! That's an abso-bloomin-lutely awesome place!"

"Isn't it? See, there are hills right here, and lots of trees.."

"Is that a pond?"

"Yeah, a pond to swim in….and I don't wanna go there."

'I don't want you too," Colleen said as sobs overtook her and she started crying into her lap.

"Colleen..I'M leaving..and you look worse than I feel." He sat down next to her and put his arm around her. "Is anything ELSE wrong? Besides the fact that I'm leaving?"

Colleen raised her head. "Isn't tat enough?" She stood up and walked over to his dressor, leaning against it. "Huntie..I don't know if I ever told you this..but..you've been the only best friend I've ever had. What am I gonna do without you?"

"I"VE been your ONLY best friend? But you just met me two years ago!" Colleen nodded. Huntr stood up and moved closer to her. "How come you've never had another best friend?"

Colleen shrugged. "I just felt so different from everyone else I ever met. I mean, growing up in the street ya have to learn to depend on yourself. Ya can't trust anyone, ya know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do."

"I was also really different from any of the other girl dogs I ever et. They always relied on begging for food from humans by flashing their eyes and pretting themselves up and being all feminine. But I gave that up a long time ago. I mean sure I do spend a long time on me hair, but we're talkin all their spare time trying to make themselves gorgeous. I knew I could do much better than that! I could get me own food, I could rely on meself. Ut a lot of the girl dogs thought I was weird, I was unfeminine…I never fit it with them or with anyone. A lot of the girl dogs couldn't believe me when I didn't want to rely on sympathy, begging and charm. But I knew I didn't want to, that was just not me."

"Then the Master called you?"

"And we met. And you were just like me! You knew exactly what I'm talking about, I guess it's because we were both strays and we both had to rely on ourselves. You listen to me when I talk, and you understand me better than anyone. I can talk to you and feel more comfortable than I've ever felt with anyone! We have so much in common, sometimes I think I can read your mind."

Hunter smiled "What am I thinking right now?"

Colleen frowned. "You're thinking that you don't want to leave and you're angry at the Clintons.." she said slowly.

"That's right!"

"I knew it!" Colleen looked at him sadly. Her yes filled with tears again. "Oh, Huntie..you're not just my best friend, you're the one I love…."

"So are you," Hunter said, coming over to her and taking her in his arms. Sobs overtook her again. Hunter held Colleen close, closer than he had ever held her before. He stroked her hair tenderly. "Please, please don't cry, Colleen," he whispered into her hair. "If you do, I will...and I won't know how to stop!'  
"It's just not fair," she whispered, wiping her eyes and holding him close. "Huntie, I love you so much! How could this happen? Only one more month and a few more weeks..and I'll never see you again!"  
Hunter kissed her through her hair. "I know...Colleen..I.."he said gentily tilting her face up. He gazed into her bright blue eyes for a moment until he brought his face down and kissed her. The kiss grew and grew. Their arms tightened around each other as the passion grew with each kiss and every caress. Hunter lowered his arms and slipped them around her back, tracing her backbone and pulling her closer, escalating the passion of their kisses. "Oh, Colleen," he whispered tightly as they fell back against the dresser. Colleen felt the edge of the dresser pressing against her back, but she could almost enjoy this sensation as she fiercely ran her fingers through his hair. All she wanted was for Hunter to hold her, to touch her, to never ever let her go again! She felt him kiss her on the top of her head, her ear, through her hair, on her forehead, her cheek, her chin, and found her mouth again almost as if he was trying to memorize her face. She returned every kiss and caress until both of them were breathless with desire.  
"Huntie, I love you," she whispered fiercely.  
"I love you, too, so much," Hunter said, gazing into her eyes. Colleen gazed back into eyes that were the warmest, kindest, most loving eyes she had ever gazed into. But they were serious, like they were when they had to lead missions. Hunter stroked Colleen's cheek gentlily and carefully.  
"Colleen," he whispered softly. "Please marry me."

"No.." Collen said, pulling away from him. 'Oh, Huntie,. I wish you would stop asking me that. I love you with all me heart..but I can't marry you! I belong in London. That's where I was born and that's where me master is."

"I know.." Hunter said. "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that. I love you, Colleen, but I do understand." Slowly he let go of her and took her hand. He reached over on the dresser and got his tennis ball. He opened her hand and put the ball into it.

"What's this, Huntie?"

"Take it, Colleen. This is a goodbye present."

"But..Huntie, you love this tennis ball! This is your most favorite thing you have."

"I know, Colleen. But I want you to have it now. So..when I have to leave you won't forget us."

Colleen looked up with tears in her eyes. "Huntie, how can I possibly forget you?"

"Go on, Colleen. Please take it." Colleen knew what he was really saying in giving her the ball. He was leaving a part of him behind for her. She walked into his arms and hugged him as hard as she could.


	6. British Woman, American Man

There are two songs in this chapter. The first is 'What's Left Of Me' by Nick Lachey, the other is 'I Wouldn't Go That Far' by Reba McEntire

The next day Bill was standing at the door of the White House waving goodbye to Hilary, who was going to meet her campagn manager to work on her running for New York Senator. Hunter, in dog form came running up to her with a frizbee in his mouth. Hillary smiled. "Hey boy! Where's your tennis ball?" She patted his nose gentily. "No, I don't have time to play boy. I have to meet my campagn manager. I'll play with you later." Waving a final goodbye to Bill Hilary got in the limo. Bill staid on the porch, waving until it was out of sight.

"Finally," he said to himself. Hunter barked and held the frizbee out to him. Bill petted him and threw the frizbee a few times until he paused to check his watch."Yes," he whispered. "She's home!" To Hunter he said. "Ok, boy, time out. Gotta make a phone call. I'll play with ya later promise." Bill went back into the house. Hunter sighed to himself. This wasn't the first time this happened, both of his Masters were too busy to play or spend time with him. It always felt a little lonesome, which was why he was spending longer times at Headquarters. With a heavy heart he reminded himself he wasn't gonna have that for very much longer. Sadly he went into the White House. He wandered along the halls of this big massive home..a home he had to get ready to leave soon. Soon he came to his Master's bedroom and poked his head in curiously. To his surprise he found him on the phone with someone with a huge smile on his face. Thinking it was Hillary, Hunter wandered into the room, thinking Bill might let him send her a few good luck barks.

"Yeah, yeah, Hillary just left. Naw, don't really know how long, but with these campagn managers ya just KNOW it's gonna take forever!" He laughed. "Only mean we got all the time in the world, Darlin!" Hunter stiffened up at those words. "Yeah, yeah. Well, where ya wanna meet? We got load of room here…just as many beds…oh don't worry, Dar, Hillary is NOT gonna be home for at least a few hours!" Hunter dropped the Frisbee unable to BELIEVE what he was hearing! That wasn't Hillary on the phone! Was it that Monica he had heard from the Aides and Lawyers in passing? He had heard some accusations regarding his Master but h had chosen to ignore them all, after all, being a Road Rover he had more important things to think about! But now he could hear it and see it so clearly!

His own Master, Hunter couldn't believe it! Hillary was out there, in am important meeting, trusting him, and here was her husband playing around like a jackrabbit! Hunter stared at the Master he once looked up to with a mixture of shock and disgust! Here Clinton had HIS wife right next to him, always there to help and support him, and he didn't even appreciate it, while Hunter would give anything to marry Colleen and have her be HIS wife! Bill was playing around and taking advantage of HIS "true love" while Hunter's was an ocean away, and he was here, pining away for her! It was then that Bill looked up and saw Hunter in the doorway.

"Oh, hey, Boy!" he smiled. "Hey, just let me get of this call, then we'll lay some ore, alright?" Hunter angrily picked up the frizbee and stormed out of the room, not in the mood for playing too much. He went to his doghouse and curled up in it. God, what was Clinton DOING?! Fooling around on his wife?! Didn't he know how good he had it?! At least HIS mate was THERE! In his HOUSE! In his COUNTRY! While the only dog Hunter ever truly loved was all the way in England…and God knows how much time together THEY had left!

__

Watch my life,  
Pass me by,  
In the rearview mirror  
Pictures frozen in time  
Are becoming clearer  
I don't wanna waste another day  
Stuck in the shadow of my mistakes

Hunter laid his head on his paws unhappily. It had taken all this time to admit he loved Colleen, and if the two of them could swap places with Bill and Hilary, Hunter knew he would NEVER, EVER! Cheat! If Colleen was his wife, he'd never part with her!

_Cause I want you,  
And I feel you,  
Driving underneath my skin  
Like a hunger,  
Like a burning,  
To find a place I've never been_

Bill then wandered out into the backyard. "Hunter? Hunter? Hey,. Where are ya, Boy? Don't ya wanna play now?"

__

"Not right now, thanks," Hunter thought angrily.

__

Now I'm broken,  
And I'm faded,  
I'm half the man I thought I would be:  
But you can have what's left of me

Bill poked his head into the doghouse. "Hey, there you are, Boy! Wanna play now, I'm off the phone!" Just then a sound was heard in the drive way. Both Bill and Hunter looked. An attractive blond haired young model-like woman stepped out. Hunter couldn't help but notice how Bill's eyes were practically buldging out of his head at the sight of her. The sight made Hunter nauscious. "Hey, Baby!" Bill said, coming over to him. Hunter tried to go inside his doghouse, but Bill pulled the woman over. "Have ya met my pet dog, Hunter? Come on out, Hunter, say hi!"

"Aw, what a sweet dog he is, Bill!" the woman, said, reaching in to pet him, but Hunter barked viciously and drove her away from him.

"Hunter, down!" Bill said. He laughed a bit. "Sorry about that, he doesn't know you yet."

"Yet?" Hunter thought.

"Come on, baby, let's go inside, I got everything ready!' Hunter watched them go inside with complete disgust and anger.

"You're immature, Clinton!" Hunter thought to himself. "You don';t know how good you have it! Here I am willing to give ANYTHING to have Colleen next to me right here, and you're taking advantage of your wife, who IS! You couldn't POSSIBLY know how it feels to have someone you love be torn away from you! You couldn't know how I'm feeling right now!"

_I've been dying inside,  
Little by little,  
No where to go,  
But going out of my mind  
In endless circles,_

"Oh, Colleen," Hunter thought, "Why does everything remind me of you lately?"

__

Running from my self until,  
You give me a reason for standing still

Cause I want you,  
And I feel you,  
Driving underneath my skin  
Like a hunger,  
Like a burning,  
To find a place I've never been

Now I'm broken,  
And I'm faded,  
I'm half the man I thought I would be:  
But you can have what's left of me

The wind started to pick up. Hunter stared at it. The flowing grass reminded him of how the wind flew through Colleen's hair when they were jogging. He stared at the nearest tre. The bark was redish-brown..almost te same shade as Colleen's hair. __

  
_It's falling faster,  
Barely breathing,  
Give me something,  
To believe in  
Tell me: It's all in my head_

Take what's left  
Of this man  
Make me whole  
Once again

Cause I want you,  
And I feel you,  
Driving underneath my skin  
Like a hunger,  
Like a burning,  
To find a place I've never been

Now I'm broken,  
And I'm faded,  
I'm half the man I thought I would be:  
But you can have what's left of me

He glanced through the window of the main room of the White House and saw Bill pour some wine for his girlfriend, talking intimately to her..and making Hunter sick.

__

_I've been dying inside you see  
I'm going out of my mind  
Out of my mind  
I'm just running in circles all the time  
Will you take what's left  
Will you take what's left  
Will you take what's left of me?  
Running in circles all the time  
Will you take what's left  
Will you take what's left  
Will you take what's left of me?_

Hunter stood up and ran to where the rock was. He was dieing to get to the beach at Headquarters. He had to clear his head and forget all he saw today! If he was lucky, maybe he could see Colleen there, and unlike Clinton treat someone you love the way they should!

Colleen sat on the front steps of Headquarters, staring at the tennis ball that was in her hands. Just holding it bright back so many memories of her and Hunter together., including the most recent one.__

__

I'll never forget that night long ago  
When he drove me down that old dusty road  
He took me as far as I'd ever been  
He wanted me and I wanted him  
But I'd always been told I shouldn't give in

She just couldn't believe it, in a month and a few short weeks the only dog she had ever truly loved would be gone,. Gone forever! Sure, she might have had a few boyfriends in her life, but they were absolutely nothing, nothing like Hunter. Never had she known anyone so kinbd, so thoughtful, so sweet, brave and loyal! Dogs like Hunter didn't come along every day. There had never been anyone like him..and she had never loved anyone so much! How? How could this happen? How could Master allow it..how could SHE allow it?! Wait a minute…who said SHE had to allow it! Who said she even had to be a willing player in this?!

What was Master going to do with Hunter gone? Did Mr. Bush have a dog..and would THAT dog be the new Leader?! NO! She stood up. No! She would NOT have another Leader! She would NOT take orders from ANYONE else! Hunter was the most wonderful Leader in the world! There was NO ONE like him! Everyone else could NOT hold a candle to him!

But..what if Master didn't choose that dog? What if he chose one of THEM to take Hunter's place? But who? She sat down to think. Exile? True, Exile was big, and friendly, and kind…but did HE have what it took to lead? Exile was good at following orders….but how good was he at planning? Could he think as quick as Hunter could? Come up with good ideas? As long as she had known Exile he hadn't really come up with any plans or ideas. He was a good listener, and a good fixer, but could he really LEAD? She didn't think so. Blitz? Shag? Oh God, those two were definitely out! "What if it's ME?!" Colleen thought. "What if he picks me to lead? God, am I up to it? Can I do it as well as Hunter? " She had never come up with a plan before, she didn't know if she really could. She would be willing to try…but can she lead a team without Hunter? Could she be up to it? She could think quick…but she couldn't think as quickly as Hunter. She sighed, Who was she kidding? Hunter was the BEST! No matter how hard she tried, she would never compare at all to Hunter! Hunter was the best Road Rover…and he was about to leave them all and never return!

Colleen stood up and stared angrily at the Headquarters where Master was. How could he NOT have thought about this before?! Didn't he see what was going on? He was splitting up the team! Did he expect her to go on IN this team to even TRY to lead or to follow someone else? NO! "If you can't be on this team, Huntie," Colleen thought, reoving hr collar and throwing it on the floor, "Than I won't be either! I'm quitting! I'll march right in there and tell Master, if Hunter goes I go!" But she sank down on the steps. Go where? Back to London? And do what? Be an ordinary dog to Mr. Blair? She sighed. She did love her Master deeply…but after being a Road Rover being and ordinary dog was gonna be boring! What would she DO all day? Sit in her doghouse? Wait for her food, and wait for someone to come play with her? The Blair's were wonderful true, but they were such hard workers most of the time. Usually the Aides would come and play with her. Not that it wasn't fun, but it wasn't the same as having her Master do it.

Her mind wandered as she remembered the picture Hunter showed her of his new home. It DID look nice..it had such a huge backyard and lovely hills. She could see herself running up and down those hills, having races with Hunter, swimming in the pond with him. She would definitely never be lonely at all, not with Hunter there running, playing. She smiled. Maybe later little puppies might join the picture. Sweet puppies, playing in the yard, Hunter tossing tennis balls to them, her taking them after and cleaning them…

What was she DOING?! Was the actually considering Hunter's marriage proposal?!

_I wouldn't go that far  
I didn't follow my heart  
He said he loved me  
But I wasn't ready  
And I wouldn't go that far_

God, she had been thinking too hard. Hunter was THE most wonderful dog ever..but she COULDN'T give up London! Not for him, or for anyone!_  
_  
_He was so patient, he didn't give up  
With a ring in his hand and a heart full of love  
He asked me for forever, I asked him to wait  
To please understand these dreams I must chase  
Though it was a promise I wanted to make_

She DID love Hunter! Honestly and truly and completely loved him. But…London was her home. However boring that life might be!

__

I wouldn't go that far  
I didn't follow my heart  
He said he loved me  
But I wasn't ready  
And I wouldn't go that far

__

Yes, I knew he loved me,

But I wasn't ready,

And I wouldn't go that far.

Her mind thought of London. How stiff the Royal Family was when they came over to see Mr. Blair. How she had to be on her best behavior all the time. She was happy though…wasn't she? Wasn't she? London was her home…but could she really see herself there permanently happy? With a Master who really didn't play with her that much? With Aides who were paid to act like they cared…and to be alone in her big roomy doghouse…all alone..all alone, with no one there. Plenty of time to miss Hunter to death. _  
_On the other hand, Hunter WAS always there and would always be there. You could NEVER be lonely with him! Whenever she was with him she was so comfortable, and so happy! She loved him so much….she wanted to be with him…she wanted to be in that big backyard playing forever with him, and to have his puppies…

"But IS that what you want?" a voice came to her. She loved her doghouse, she loved her Master..she would be board a lot of the time..she would think of Hunter,. If she stayed at Headquarters everything would remind her of Hunter! The pang of missing him already his her heart, deeper than any pain she had ever felt before.

She turned toward the beach. Her eyes fell on Hunter, walking along the beach quietly alone in his London outfit. He looked so handsome, yet so sad all she wanted to do was run to him and comfort him. She stood up and looked at him.

"Do I really want to live my life without him?" she thought carefully, looking at him. "NO!" she realized. "I don't!" She stood up, her thoughts finally becoming clear to her. She raced along to where Hunter was on the beach. She stopped only once to look back at Headquarters sadly and raise one of her feet in a kick.

But her mind was made up.

"Huntie!" Colleen cried out, running as fast as she could to him. "Wait, Huntie! Huntie!" Hunter quickly turned around ad smiled as the lovely form of his girlfriend came running to him on the beach. She was JUST the face he needed to see! He held out his arms as she raced into them. He held her gentily and kissed her tenderly as the water lapped at the shore. Colleen held him tightly, Held him and felt his arms that fit perfectly around her. Better than anyone else ever did! She pulled away from him and gazed into his warm brown eyes. "Huntie? Love?"

"Yeah?"

"I changed me mind," Colleen said with certainty and no hesitation at all. "I WILL marry you!" For a while Hunter just stared at her, almost as if he thought he was dreaming and this couldn't POSSIBLY be real!

"You..you WILL?" He whispered, unable to believe it.

"Yes, Huntie. I love you ore than anything. I will marry you!"

"Well…why now? I mean..what changed your mind?"

"Well, I've been giving this a lot of thought," Colleen said. "And I realized that no matter how much I love London and would miss it and my Masters..the truth is..I would miss you more! Yes, I love y Master…but they're never around too long, and all I would ever do is think of you. I finally figured out oh Huntie I love you far more than anything, more than London itself. I want to be with you, Huntie, and I don't want to be anywhere you're not. Where you go, I'll go to!"

Hunter's eyes filled with tears. "I'm almost afraid to answer that."

"Why?"

"I'm afraid I'll wake up!" He drew her into his arms and held her as tight as he could. But the pulled away quickly. "Wait, Colleen…."

"Yes, Huntie?"

"Well, call me ol;d fashioned, but if we're gonna do this…let;'s do it right!" He got down on one knee and held her hands. "Colleen, I love you. Will you marry me?" 

"Yes," she said without hesitating,.

"Will you be my mate, come to Arkansas and live with me?"

"Yes."

"YES!" Hunter cried, pulling Colleen into his arms and kissing her with all the love he had. "I'm not like you at all, Clinton," Hunter thought. "Cause now that I have Colleen, I'm NEVER gonna let her go!" He gazed at her beautiful blue eyes. "I love you, Colleen."

"I love you, Hunter!"


	7. Preparation

Hunter laughed for the first time in a long, long time. He picked Colleen up happily and twirled her around and around. She laughed and giggled, feeling almost like a puppy again. She rained kisses down upon Hunter's face happily until she found his mouth and kissed him with such love and tenderness it took their breath away. He pulled away and stared happily at her.

"I love you," he said simply.

"I love you," sh answered.

"Oh, Colleen, I'm so happy…you can't believe how happy I am right now! I fel like screaming from the hightest mountain that I'm going to marry the dog I love more than anyone in the entire world!"

"Oh, too, Huntie! I feel like telling everyone I see!"

"But NOT Blitz!" they both said together before bursting out in laughter.

"It's almost scary how we can do that," Hunter remarked. Colleen giggled. "But..you know what I really feel like doing, Colleen?"

"What?" In answer Hunter looked at the moon and howled as loudly as he could. Smiling, Colleen joined him. They looked at each other and shared a passionate embrace.

"Colleen," Hunter suddenly asked. "Do you think there are any more cocktail weenie's in the fridge?" 

"I think so, Huntie. Why?"

"I think Confuse-Us is still up at this time." Hunter looked at Coleen seriously. "Colleen..let;'s get married tonight!"

"Tonight?!"  
"Yeah. We can get dressed up, get the cocktail weenies, go to Confuse-Us, and ask if he'll marry us tonight."

"But..Huntie…why so soon?"

Hunter looked at her seriously. "Colleen..I love you. I love you more than anything on Earth. But if you're going to come to America that means we BOTH have to give up our Cano-Mutant forms and both be regular dogs. Colleen…I want to STAND up there in front of Confuse-Us, and SPEAK my vows to you, not bark them. I want to spend at least a month in Cano-Mutant form knowing you're my wife. But..most important.,.I can't spend one more day NOT being your husband! Please, Colleen…marry me tonight!"

Colleen looked into his eyes and smiled happily. "This is so crazy….but I'm in, let's do it!"

"Let's go take a shower, and get dressed up, I'll get the cocktail weenies, and meet me in front of the Sky Rover in an hour!"

"In an hour, yes!" Hunter scooped her up in his arms and gave her a passionate kiss.

Hunter ad Colleen both snuck into the Headquarters, carefully looking around to make sure no one could see them. Hunter went into the shower. He let the water flow over his body and grabbed the dog shampoo. He lathered himself all over. He knew he had to be extremely clean today. After all, no one in his entire life had ever been with him in that way before. Never at all. Tonight, someone would for the first time. He had to make sure he was extra, EXTRA clean tonight. Afterward he wrapped a towel around himself and snuck in the kitchen to take the cocktail weenies. Going to his room, he searched his closet for his best suit and tie. He put them on and ran a comb through his hair.

Meanwhile Colleen was digging, digging through her closet, looking for a decent dress to wear for tonight. Being a bit tomboyish she knew she didn't own that many, not at all, and they were deep, deep in her closet. Finally she was able to find at least three of them, which she laid on her bed. One was a pale peach color with no adornment and just a plain ribbon. "No," she said. "Far too plain for me wedding day!" she smiled at that thought. "Me WEDDING DAY! Oh God, it's almost time!" she glanced at the other two dresses. One was a medium length dark blue with white caps on the sleeves and belt. "No, too stiff!" She picked up the third. It was a meduim pink colored with white lace at the belt and frilly bottom. The sleeves were short and big at the shoulders. "This is it! Not exactly white, but it looked bridal enough! Hmm…wat else can I do to look like a brid? Aftr all, I am going to be one really soon." She got an idea. And went out on the beach. She picked some flowers from the nearby garden and took them to her room. She wove them ionto a headband of flowers and set it on her bed. She then went into the shower herself and lathered herself with her own dog shampoo. She scrubbed herself from top to bottom. Like Hunter, she had never been with anyone ever. By the time she had finished she looked like a Yeti. She rinsed herself off and wrapped a towel around herself. Hading back into her roo she got out her blow dryer and blew her hair dry. She stared at her image in the mirror. Her eyes were glowing with complete happiness and joy. Her hair was shining and soft due to the dog shampoo. Add to that the fact that she was in the best physical condition of her life and she could come up with only one conclusion…this was the best night of her life! Taking out the curling iron, she styled her hair until it looked just right. She changed into the pink lacy dress and took the flower headband, fashioning it to her hair with bobby pins. She took one final glance in the mirror and liked what she saw. Taking a huge deep breath, she walked right out the door. Not even glancing back at the Union Jack hanging on her wall.

Hunter was waiting on the beach next to the Sky Rover. His face lit up when he saw Colleen in a beautiful pink dress with flowers in her hair, step out the door and come right to him. He stared her her…there never was a more beautiful dog in all the world. "Wow," was all he could say. "You look beautiful!" He took her in his arms.

"You look more handsome than you ever have!" Colleen said. Hunter reached into the Sky Rover and pulled out a bouquet of roses tied with white ribbon.

"For you," he said.

"Thank you," Colleen said happily. "They're lovely."

' "Should be, they're from the White House," Hunter said. "I made a quick stop there. A bride needs a special bouquet today!"

"Oh Huntie, thank you!" Colleen said, embracing him. Hunter pulled her into his arms in a gentile tender kiss, for just a moment letting the world fade away…but they were quickly brought back to it when a large familiar voice was heard.

"COMRADES! WHAT'S GOING ON OUT HERE?"


	8. Explanations and Apologies

"Exile…what are YOU doing here?" Hunter said, quickly looking down on the ground.

"I hear some noise coming from outside and I peek my head out. I see my Comrades standing in front of the Sky Rover in such good clothes…what's is going on here? Who is having party I wasn't invited to?"

"What is happening around here? What's going on?" Came another voice as Blitz came out and joined them on the beach followed by Shag. "Why are we all out here? What's happening? Why….whoa.." he said his voice trailing away as he caught sight of Colleen. "Hello, Pretty Girl Doggie..you look stunning tonight! You all dressed up with someplace to go that I can escort you to?"

"Mind your own business, Fluffy," Colleen snapped, moving away from him.

"So, what is it, Comrades? Why are we standing here feeling like we are very underdressed? " Exile asked.

Hunter looked at Colleen,. The story was out, they were licked. "Guys? Well…it's like this. Colleen and I…we've realized that we're in love. And we're going to get married tonight. "

The silence after this announcement was deafening. Everyone stared at them with their mouths open. Finally Exile closed it and stepped forward. "You mean…Hunter...you, and Colleen..Colleen..you've changed your mind?" Colleen nodded and quietly smiled Exile slowly formed a grin. "But, Comrades, I'm afraid if you're getting married there is something very important you both forgot!"

"What's that, Exile?"

"ME!" He laughed and held his arms out. "I could not let my dear friends go get married without coming to wish my blessings on them! We ALL will go…right, Blitz? Shag?"

"Reah!" Shag immediately agreed, coming over to Hunter and Colleen and giving them both huge bear hugs!"

"Shagster, let them breathe, otherwise the can't say vows!" Exile said. He looked over at Blitz, who was standing there, his mouth still hanging open, in complete shock. "Blitz? BLITZ?"  
"Huh..oh..right ja?"

"You are happy for them, yes?"

"Uh.."

"Blitz!"

"Whatever," Blitz said with a mixture of shock and sadness. "Married? They're getting married..she;s marrying HIM?!"

"Yeah, Blitz." Exile laughed. "She's getting married..to HUNTER! Isn't that wonderful? Come, Comrade, we go wash and get dressed up and we join them!"

"She…pretty girl doggie…prettiest girl doggie…but him? A lovely collie dog..with a mutt? A MIXED BREED..when I was here the entire time! God, think of what their kids are gonna look like!"

Exile dragged Blitz a foot away so Hunter and Colleen couldn't hear. "What's wrong with you?!"

"I could giv her so much more! Look at me, look at my muscles, my super claws,! Look what I can give her. Our kids could be so beautiful looking and I would take care of her.."

Exile laughed. "Blitz, I think she can take car of herself very well. Besides, what's wrong with Hunter? He's not bad looking at all, he's rather handsome. "

"Sure, take his side, Snowball," Blitz snapped and stormed off to the Headquarters.

A little while later Exile had showered and dressed in his best suit and tie. Shag had found a tie to wear himself and was helping fastion one on Muzzle. He walked over to Blitz's room and knocked on the door. "Comerade? You almost ready to go?" There was no answer from the other side. "Blitz?" Finally he put his hand on the knob. "Blitz? I'm coming in." he opened the door. Blitz was dressed in a suit and tie all right, but he sat facing the wall, his chin in his hands, and in the dark. Exile sighed and walked right up to him. "Enough." He turned on the lights and stood in front of him "ENOUGH! You are behaving like little puppy dog!" He sighed and sat down next to him. "They LOVE each other! It's not like they planned this! It just happened. They want to do this."

"Ja, easy for YOU to say, snowball!" Blitz said angrily. "YOUR heart didn't just get ripped out of your body!"

Exile looked at Blitz with sympathy. "Comrade, you don't think I was ever rejected? I've been around longer than you, I've had my share of broken heart. I've loved a good many girl dogs, who've turned out not to feel the same about me. I know what you go through. But, Blitz, it does no good just to sit here feeling sorry for yourself. It is not going to change her mind. Her mind is made up." He put his hand on Blitz's shoulder. "Thy did not do this to hurt you, you know that! No one can ever plan anything like this. That's why it's called love! It's so amazing you can't explain it. But when it happens, it happens. But sometimes it does not happen to you! I KNOW you're hurting, Comrade, but it will go away. Mine went away, and yours will too."

"How?" Blitz said. "How can you make it go away?"

'It does take time. But one of the things that helped me is realizing that there are other girls around. Plenty of birds in the sky! She isn't the one for you, but that doesn't mean that somewhere out there there isn't one!"

Blitz looked up. "Do you really mean that?"

"Of course, Comrade! There might be a lovely girl doggie out there just for you! You just have to keep neck up and look. Of course," Exile added. "There's always Persia!" Referring to the head of the Space Rovers he saw Blitz looking at whenever they had to work with them.

"Persia? Do you think she'd talk to me?"

"Never know unless you try, Comrade. But, for now, let's concentrate on wedding! I was talking to Shag, and he and I thought…we should surprise our Comrades! They will walk right into their own wedding reception! We put it together while they are consummating marriage. Shag is going to bake wedding cake, and other gormet treats!"

"Can we have peppermint milkshakes? "

"But of course!"

Blitz stood up. "You know, maybe this WILL be all right in the end!"

"Of course, Comrade! Come," he put his arm around Blitz's shoulders. "Let's go out and meet them!"

As Blitz and Exile mad their way over to the main forum where everyone was gathered, Blitz saw Hunter and Colleen standing near the counter. For once he avoided gazing at Colleen's beauty and instead stared at the actual scene in front of him. Colleen's face glowed with in inner radiance that seemed to come from within. He had never seen this side of her before! She for as long as he remembered never looked like tat. He glanced at Hunter and knew where it had come from. He sighed as guilt formed in his body. He remembered all the timer he had challenged Hunter's Leadership, all the times he had been mean and nasty to him..and all the times Hunter had forgiven him or was kind to him. He sighed, finally admitting the truth, looking at the animated way Hunter's face was when he talked to Colleen. Hunter loved Colleen and Colleen loved Hunter. They belonged together. Blitz looked down. He owed Hunter, he owed him big time!

Blitz and Exile came out of the room and into the main forum where everyone else had gathered.  
"OK, Comrades, I think we are all ready..."Exile began.  
"Wait," Blitz said quickly. "Before anything happens I have something I need to say."  
"Blitz, do you really think you have to.." Exile began.  
Blitz turned around sharply. "Yes, I do." He faced Hunter and Colleen. "This won't take long, will both of you please sit down?" They looked at each other suspiciously, but sat down on the couch. "Shag..will you please get all of us some water?"  
"Right," He said, going to the kitchen.  
"From the SINK!" Blitz called out before he faced Hunter and Colleen. "This is tough for me to say, but I know I have to say it, especially to Hunter. I know that in the past I haven't been too nice to you...in fact I've been rather mean. CChallenging your authority as Leader...saying you wouldn;t make a good one. But the opposite is true,. Hunter, you're a great Leader..and you're a wonderful friend. If you want the truth...I was jealous. Jealous of your Leadership...and your relationship with Colleen."  
"And here ya hid it so well," Hunter mumbled sarcastically.  
I thought I was in lov with her and I hated the fact that she loved you. But now I'm looking at the two of you...and now I see I was wrong. Let me tell you what I see when I'm seeing you now. I'm seeing something amazing." He looked at Colleen. "I'm seeing someone that has more guts than I will ever have. Someone who's giving up everything she knows. Someone who willingly is going away from her birth home and her own Master to go begin a new life in a different place, with a diffferent home and a different Master! All to be with someone else forever!" He looked at Hunter. "And I'm seeing someone who, even though he knows he has a short time to be here and can't give Colleen the wedding he would like to give her, is still trying to make this day as special is possible to make her happy. In fact at first he ddn't want her to go at all cause he didn';t want her to give up her home! Now tat he knows she's coming, he's treating her like a Princess and I know he always will. When I see you..I see real true, unconditional love! This is love...and what I was feeling wasn't. All this time when I was making passes at Colleen and questioning Hunter...I'm ashamed of that now." Shag brought in a tray with glasses of water. Blitz assed outthe water and raised his glas sin the air. "That's why I want all of you to know I am no longer going to oppose this union, I'm going to celebrate it. I'm going to lift a glass to it, I'm going to ask God to bless it. Hunter, Colleen, from the bottom of my heart..I'm sorry.I hope you can both find it in your hearts today to forgive me. Congradulations to you both and I hope you have a wonderful life together!" Exile patted his shoulder approvingly.

Hunter stood up, touched beyond belief. "Blitz..that's…that's so nice." He stuck out his paw. "Thanks a lot, Buddy."

"Do you forgive me?"

"Sure, I forgive you. Thanks, Blitz."

Blitz turned to Colleen. " I do mean what I said. I won't act like that to you anymore. " He stuck out his paw. "JUST friends, Pr…Colleen?"

Colleen stood up and a slow smile spread across her face. "You REALLY mean that?"

"Ya, I do."

Colleen smiled and shook his paw. "JUST friends then..Blitz."

"Am I forgiven?"

"Yeah, you are. Thanks a lot."


	9. Surprise!

I am so glad we have dug the axe," Exile said, wrapping Hunter and Colleen in a HUGE bear hug. "Now, I believe we have wedding to get rready for!"  
Everyone began to file out of the room, but Hunter held Colleen back for a few minutes, crushing her in a tight embrace. "I can't believe this moment...it's almost here!"  
"I know, Huntie," Colleen said beaming. "I can't believe it either, Luv!"  
"Come here," he whispered, holding her close. "Colleen?" he asked.  
"Yeah?" she asked.  
He pulled away and gazed into her eyes. "Are you positive that this is really what you want? Colleen, I love you more than absolutely anything on Earth, and I'm sorry it took me so long to have enough courage to admit it. But, I don't want to force you into doing something this big. I mean, you're giving up a lot. Your home where you were born and raised. Your own Masters that you've waited so long to have, that gorgeous home you're living in, not to mention being a Road Rover and walking on hind legs, talking, your martial arts...you're about to give all that up, just for me. I'm touched beyond belief...but I'd never be able to forgive myself if I felt like I was dragging you away from all that. That's a life you love, and a life you dreamed of. I have to give up being a Road Rover, I have no choice...but you do."  
"No I don't. Huntie," Colleen said, hugging him tightly. "Huntie, I never HAD a choice! Not since we found out about this! Yes, I loved London, and I'll miss it greatly...but in the long run..Huntie I'd miss you more! I thought about this for a long time...and nothing is worth losing you. The only home I ever really need in me life is the one I'll have with you. I love you more than anything, more than London, more than me own Masters, more than being a Road Rover. If I had to go on being a Road Rover without you...I don't think I'd be able to. Everything would remind me of you, I'd see you everywhere. I'll I'd do is think of you and miss you with me whole heart! I love you, and I want to do this. I'd give up the whole world for you!"  
Hunter took her cheek and gave her a deep kiss. "Oh, Colleen, believe me I would too. You're sure this is what you want?"  
"Yes," Colleen said without hesitating. "Is this what you want?"  
"Yes," Hunter said. He took Colleen's arm and lead her out where the rest of the Rovers were. "You'll love Arkansas! I showed you a picture of the...of OUR new home, right?"  
"Will it really have that huge grassy hill?"  
"And lots of room to run around and explore..."  
As they were walking toward the Sky Rover, Exile got an idea and whispered it to Blitz. He nodded happily and then whispered to Shag, who also nodded. When they reached the Sky Rover, Exile stepped forward. "Comrades, You two, Muzzle, and Shag go in the Sky Rover. Blitz and I will go in the Cloud Rover. We have something very important to pick up. We will meet you there in little bit."

A little while later Blitz and Exile were flying toward the state of Wyoming. "You sure you remember where to go, Exile?"

"Believe me, Comrade, it is can of cake!"

Blitz smiled. "They are going to be so surprised!"

"Yeah," Exile said. "I am very proud of you, Comrade. That speech you gave, it took lots of guts."

"Ja, I meant every word of it, too," Blitz said, looking down. "I just wish I could do more than just make a speech, I owe them more than that."

Exile patted his shoulders. "That is more than enough. They have forgiven you, Comrade, so do not think about that anymore." His eyes lit up. "We are here!" he cried as he spotted the small modest farmhouse in the distance. He landed the Cloud Rover on a nearby hill.

Meanwhile, at about the same time Hunter and Colleen were getting out of the Sky Rover and making their way through the dirty back streets of London. "So, where did you say your Mom was buried?" Hunter asked Colleen.

Colleen pointed to a mound that held unmarked graves. "Over there, Huntie. Why do you want to know where she is?"

Hunter slowly walked over to where the mound was. He knelt down in front of it, almost in silent prayer. He took some more roses and put it on the mound, and continued to pray a bit. Suddenly a small dove came flying and landed on the mound, He picked up the rose and flew straight up with it…almost as if it was taking it to Heaven. Hunter smiled and stood up. He turned to Colleen. "Maybe I'm old-fashioned..but I wanted to come here and ask your Mother for her permission to take your hand in marriage." he looked up and smiled. "I think she gave it." Coleen smiled, took a rose from her bouquet and laid it on the mound.

"Thanks, Mum," she whispered. "I love you."

A little while later the Sky Rover landed on the mountain to where Confuse-Us was meditating on his pillow. Hunter held the box of cocktail weenies. Confuse-Us opened his eyes as the Rovers made their way up to where he was.

"Oh, Confuse-Us, we seek your help," Hunter said.

"Well, Road Rovers, good evening to ya all. Course I'd be willing to help…did you bring the cocktail weenies?"

"Yes, Sir," Hunter handed them over.

"Oh, fantastic, the cheesy kind! Yeah, just leave the whole box!" He started gobbling them down like crazy, finally coming up for air. "Ahh,…they're good! Now, what can I do for ya?"

"Oh great wise dog, Colleen and I have come to ask you for your services." He held Colleen's hand as they both came forward. "Mighty Confuse-Us, Colleen and I have fallen deeply in love with each other. We've come here tonight, Sir, because we want to get married."

"I see," Confuse-Us said.

"Yes, Sir. Would you please marry us tonight?"

"Tonight? Ya wanna do it tonight?" Confuse-Us smiled. "Oh, I just LOVE requests like this, it's the best part of my job! Let's go inside the mountain. Ya can fill out the paperwork wile I do a speedy cleanup job!"

Hunter turned toward Colleen. "That ought to give the boys time to get back from wherever they had to go to."

Meanwhile Exile and Blitz were back at Headquarters, escorting their guest to the Transdogmifier. The little dog shivered a bit when she saw the huge metal appparatus in front of her. Exile put his hand on her back reassuringly. "It's alright, Comrade. It's hurts nyet."  
"Go ahead, try it, you'll like it. " Blitz said. "A nice feeling comes over you, and you can stand up and walk and talk, and have hands!" The dog barked happily.  
"Duh, Comerade, it is funski! Go ahead, go in!" The dog then stepped into the transdogmifier. Smoke filled the area..and when it cleared up the small pretty dog stepped quickly out. She stared at the silver uniform she was wearing in absolute shock, unable to believe what she was seeing.  
"Oh...My...I can..I can walk.." she then said, but then stopped herself and covered her mouth. "I...I can TALK!" she gasped. "I CAN talk! Oh my God, I'm talking! I'm actually talking! Oh, I can't beLIEVE this!" she walked up to a mirror that was on the wall and gasped. "I..oh my..this is..amazing! I would not have predicted this! My son does this almost every day?! Unreal."  
Exile walked up to her happily. Remembering his manners he politely kissed her hand. "Welcome to Headquarters, Comrade Hunter's Mother...uh.."  
'Starbright."  
"Starbright?"  
"Yes. How do you do?" she said politely.  
"Very nice to meet you, I'm Exile, and this is Blitz."  
Blitz shook her hand. "A pleasure."  
"Hi," Starbright said. "So, you're Blitz.." she lowered her voice a little. "Look, I know it's a little late for me to start sounding like a Mother, but do you think you could lay off my son while he's trying to do his job?"  
Blitz put his hands up. "Ya..ya..I know..I will, alright."  
Starbright looked around eagerly. "So,...where's my boy? And my new daughter...oh My God.." she gasped a bit. "I have a DAUGHTER! I'm getting a daughter!'  
"Well, they're not here. They are at Confuse-Us's home."  
"THE Confuse-us? THE wise dog?! He's doing it andfthey're there already?"  
"Duh, one and the same."

"Oh, we better get there then!"  
"But first, we better get you something to wear!" Starbright looked down at the uniform she was wearing.

"Right," she giggled. "This comes off?"

" Yep. We take you to Colleen's room, I think she left dresses on her bed."

'Oh? Would she mind..I mean, that's her room..I'd feel funny taking her things.."

"I do not think she'll mind, You're going to be like Mother to her, after all!"

"Yeah..I always wanted a daughter!" she smiled. "Can you tell me about her? What's she like? "

Exile smiled." She is wonderful girl! Sweet, kind, brave, smart, trustworthy.."

"Not afraid to speak her own mind," Blitz added.

"Hey, I love her already!"  
"…and she is crazy about your son!"

Starbright smiled." Well, I always say that's what matters the most!"

Blitz smiled at this happy scene in front of him. It was too bad Colleen couldn't be reunited with her OWN mother, but she had died two years before Colleen joined the Rovers. Suddenly he had an idea, a way to make it up to Hunter and Colleen for they way he had treated them.

A little while later the papers had been filled out and Hunter and Colleen were waiting on the mountain for Confuse-Us's permission to go inside. "Where are Exile and Blitz?" Hunter said, looking at hios watch.

"Here we are, Comrades!" Exile said, coming out of the Cloud Rover.

"Hy, guys, where were you?"

"We bring you big surprise!" Exile said. He turned to the door. "Come on out! Hunter's eyes grew wide when his mother, wearing Colleen's blue and white dress stepped out. Her eyes lit up when she saw Hunter, and his own filled with tears.

"Mom!


	10. New Member of the Family

Hunter couldn't believe who was standing right in front of him. "Mom.." he cried out

Starbright smiled happily at him. "Hello, Sweetheart," she said.

Hunter gasped and brushed tears out of his own eyes. "Mom!" he said as he and Colleen ran over to her. Starbright threw her arms around his neck.  
"Hi, Honey! Oh, my boy, look at you, look how handsome you are! So strong! I can't believe it.."

"Mom..but..how.." his gaze fell on Exile and Blitz. "Guys..you…"

Exile beamed. "Happy Wedding! Or should we say, Surprise!"

"Was this…"

"Ja it was," Blitz explained. "We figured the most important day of your life you should have your mother here to help celebrate it!" There was a gasp, but Colleen was the one with her hand to her mouth and tears in her eyes at the lovely scene in front of her.

Hunter smiled and took Colleen's hand. "Mom, I want you to met the dog I love with all my heart. This is Colleen. Colleen, this is my mother Starbright. "

Starbright's eyes lit up. "So, you're Colleen, this is such an honor to finally met you!" He stepped forward and gave her the warmest, most loving hug a mother could give. She stepped back and held her at arms length to look at her. "You are JUST as beautiful as Hunter said you are! " She smiled. "This is so wonderful…I'm going to have a daughter! And WHAT a lovely daughter. This is…" she stopped on the edge of tears. "this is such a wonderful night.."

Colleen had tears in her eyes as well. "You're just as lovely as the picture that Huntie had. Thank you for coming to our wedding."

Starbright looked around. 'So, I'm at the farm, resting up, minding my own business, when suddenly a huge sound from the nearby hill rocks the entire place! I run out as fast as I ca to find out what the keck is going on and I see a large ship. It looked like yours, so I run out thinking my son has some to visit..and instead both of these men come out. When I saw what they looked like I knew they had to be your friends. And they asked if you were my son, and then they told e the happy news of your wedding! They told me to come with them. Then they took me to this place I've never seen before, showed me to this chamber.."

"The Transdogmifier!" Hunter said.

"Yes! And…here I am! " She turned to Colleen. "I borrowed one of your dresses that was on your bed, if that's OK. I did feel funny wearing your clothes when I've never even met you. "

"Sure, sure, that's alright. That dress looks nice on you, Starbright."

Starbright smiled. "We're exactly the same size too!" She looked at Colleen. "You look lovely, Dear."

"Well, the room is almost ready and.." Confuse-Us said as he came out. 'Oh, hi there!" he greeted Starbright.

"Confuse-Us, this is my Mother, Starbright," Hunter said, introducing them. Starbright bowed low toward him.

"An honor, oh Great Wise Dog," Starbright said.

"Well, we got another guest! Delightful!"

"Not JUST one more guest," Blitz said.

As of on cue a voice with a heavy Sweeish accent came from behind them "Are we late?" The Rovers and Starbright turned to see the Space Rovers one at a time climb out of their spaceship .

Hey, Space Rovers!" Hunter cried out. "What brings you here?"

"I invited them," Blitz said.

"You did? But, Comrade, when you did do this?"

"In the ship, when we were taking Starbright to be Transdogmified. I sent out a message for them on the radio inviting them to the wedding."

"We are on time?" Persia asked.

"Of course you're on time!' Confuse-Us said. "The more the merrier, I say! I just got to finish putting everything right, lighting candles and all that."

Persia smiled and hugged Hunter. "Hunter, Colleen, we could not be happier for the two of you! This is indeed such wonderful news!" She hugged Colleen and kissed her cheek. "We wanted to come and wish you both congratulations as soon as we heard this very happy news! "

Blitz took this opportunity to rush back to the Cloud Rover. "Bl;itz, where you going? Exil called out.  
"I have to pick up one very important thing, Exile. I'll be back very soon!"

Hunter was going around introducing his mother to each of the Space Rovers. While, Hunter,. Shag, Exile, and Muzzle began catching up Starbright took Colleen's hand and lead her away from the group. "While they're all talking, I want to get to know my new daughter some more!" Starbright said happily. "So, Colleen, tell me about yourself, I'm eager to know everything about you! After all, you ARE the newest member of my family!"

A little while later Colleen and Starbright were sitting upon a nearby boulder of the mountain, having quite a pleasant talk. Both women had gotten along really well. Colleen had told Starbright all about the many adventures they had as Road Rovers. Starbright whistled, impressed at all Colleen was telling her. "You told me about General Havoc, you told me about breaking out of that dog capture place, wow, and my son lead all of that?"

"Yeah," Colleen said, her eyes shining. "Huntie is incredible at what he does. He thinks up plans and gets indeas so quickly, and he always keeps a sense of humor as well."

Starbright beamed with pride. "That's my boy! My pride and joy. He was always the best and brightest part of my whole life, ever since he was just a small puppy. Oh, I'd never forget when he was born. He was a comfort and joy to me since then." Her face got a faraway look on it. "I'll never forgive the farmer for taking him away. All that junk about not being able to afford to keep two dogs. I struggled, I barked, I fought to keep my baby. But th farner took him. That was the hardest day of my life. Every day I wondered what happened to my boy. To my son. What became of him, was he taken by a good family, does he have a good life? It was a miracle of God he came back to me!" she looked at Colleen. "And it's another miracle I was able to be here to see y new daughter! Tell me, is it hard on you? Being the only girl in a whole roomful of boys?"

"Nah, not at all," Colleen answered. "After all, I ain't exactly what you';d call 'feminine' not by a bloomin longshot. I always felt more comfortable with boys anyway. Always was a tomboy, ever since I was born. Me Mum, God rest her soul, always said that I was frisky and always moving about ever since I was a pup, ya could hardly keep a leash on me!"

"Same way with being a farm dog," Starbright said. "Ya always have to be on the movee. Chasing the chickens, making sure no foxes or wolves are attacking the farm. No time for a lot of 'girlish charm." She laughed. "We have something else in common!" She hugged Colleen tightly. "Welcome to our little family Dear. We've gone from two to three…and I think you and my son are good for each other. "

"Thank you, Starbright."

"I think your mother must be a very brave woman," Starlight said suddenly. "To raise such a great girl by herself on the London streets" She squeezed Colleen's hand. "And seeing as how you're the result, I think she did a wonderful job!"

Just then Hunter came forward. "Mom? Colleen? An I interrupting something?"

"Oh no, Honey, w were just having a nice talk," Starbright said. She and Colleen stood up.

"Confuse-Us said he's ready to begin." As they were walking to where the mountain was, Starbright hung back,.

"Dear? You made a great pick! I was just having the most delightful of talks with Colleen. She's definitely a keeper. Only knew her about an hour, and I love her. She's great. So polite, charming and spunky!"

"All right, are w all rady?" Confuse-Us asked.

'Wait, wait!" Starbright said suddenly. "Colleen needs something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue!"

After a pause Persia took a shining stone out of her pocket and gave it to Colleen. "Here, this is a new moonstone we found."

"Thank you.":

One of the other Rovers took off a blue ribbon from her hair and put it around Colleen's shoulders. "Here this is blue."

Exile took off a pendant he was wearing on his suit. "Here, Comrade, you may borrow this pendant, it's from Russia."

"Thank you, Exile," Collen said, giving him a hug.

As Blitz's ship landed Starbright pointed out. "That's everything now but the old!"

Just then Cherie Blair, in a long fancy dress came out to join them. "Old enough? She asked.


	11. Mrs Blair

Colleen just stared as Cherie Blair came happily toward her. "Hello, Dear," she said, happily.

"Mrs. Blair?" Colleen asked.

"Colleen," she stared at her dog, unable to believe what she was seeing in front of her. "Honey…look at you! You're..stunning!"

Hunter's mouth flew open. "But..I don't understand..how.." he turned and looked at Blitz. "Blitz…did you do this?"

"Ja, I did," Blitz said. "I figured you had your own mother here, Hunter. But Colleen's Mother can't be here…so having her owner around is the next best thing. Just my own way of saying..that I really am sorry for everything. For all the things I said and did to the both of you. I was the one who did the inviting to Starbright, I summoned the Space Rovers, and I got Mrs. Blair." He looked at the ground. "I hope this means I really am forgiven now. "

Tears had formed in Hunter's eyes. "It…it's the nicest thing.." he hugged Blitz tightly. Blitz hugged him back, knowing he had Hunter's forgiveness. He turned to Colleen.

"Do you forgive me?" he asked hopefully. A huge smile was on Colleen's face and she made her way over to Blitz.

"Of course I do. You've made Huntie so very happy…and you did this for me!" she gave him a small hug. "Thank you."

"So…we are friends."

"Yeah, we're friends."

Mrs Blair smiled. "Let me tell you, I got QUITE the shock of my life! I'm at home reading and suddenly there's this huge amount of noise on y roof! I run out to see what on Earth is going on. My bodyguards were about to restrain him as he came out of the ship, but he begged to talk to me and said it was very important. He looked so sincere and sounded so scared something told me to tell the men to let him go," Hunter and Exile exchanged a knowing look at this part. " Once we were inside he explained everything to me, including you being part of the…what is it you call yourselves?"

"Road Rovers," Colleen said.

"Yes, that's it. If it was anyone else it would be difficult to believe, but somehow coming from HIM I could believe it," she joked. "Then, he told me the wonderful news..how you are getting married. I just had to put on a dress and come too to wish you my blessing…I didn';t think dogs COULD get married, though!"

"We can," Colleen explained. "This is the secret place of the Great Wise Dog, Confuse-Us. He's kind of like a dog monk and he performs weddings."  
"This is highly unusual," Confuse-Us said. "We've never had humans up here before!"

Colleen sharply turned. "Oh, Confuse-Us, can't she please stay?"

"Of course she can..but she has to promise that she's gonna keep this place quiet!"

"And our Headquarters, too," Exile said, coming over. "She is of course invited to our wedding reception!"

"Of course I'll keep it a secret, I already gave my word to Blitz that I would."

Hunter approached just then. Colleen smiled and took his hand. "Mrs. Blair, you do remember Hunter? From Ccamp David?"

"Of course," Cherie said sticking out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Hunter."

"It's an honor to meet you too as well, Mrs. Blair," Hunter cleared his throat. "Mrs. Blair,. being Colleen's owner I know in way you're like her mother. So, I'm asking you…Mrs. Blair, I love Colleen with all my heart, and I promise I'll be the best mate in the entire world." He stopped and took Colleen's hand. "May I please have the honor of Colleen's hand in marriage?"

Mrs. Blair stared with tears forming in her eyes. "If Colleen truly loves you with all her heart..I have no objections." Colleen smiled and gave her a hug. Mrs. Blair took Colleen's hand and lead her down the path. "Dear..I'm not going to pretend I don't know what's going to happen. You're going to go to Washing ton DC with him, isn't that right?"  
Colleen looked down. "Yes. Actually we'll be in Washington DC for only about a month, than we'll be moving to Arkansas."

"Arkansas!….Wel.." the tears building in Mrs. Blair's eyes finally spilled out. "Well, well well…"

"Mrs. Blair, please understand," Colleen said quickly. "I didn't mean to hurt you, and I'mm sorry if I am..don';t think I won't miss you and London. You and Mr. Blair have been nicer to me than anyone else in the entire world. But..I love Hunter! I love him so much..he's my complete soul-mate, ad I just can';t bear to be apart from him.."

"Dear!" Mrs. Blair said, wiping tears from her eyes. "It's all right. Honest. I'm a married woman myself, I know what it's like..and I know how it feels." she took Colleen's hand. "I'm not hurt at all..I'm just going to miss you, Darling! It's not going to be that same walking past that big empty doghouse every day."

Colleen hugged her. "I promise I'll come and visit you until we have to leave for Arkansas."

"I hope you will, Honey. I'll miss you," she pulled away and gazed at her. "Dear…you're absolutely certain about this?"

"Yes..I love him, Mrs. Blair. I adore Hunter with all me heart, I don't think I can be truly happy without him in me life. Oh, nothing against you," Colleen said quickly. "You've given me so much..and being a dog who grew up on the streets of London I was so grateful for everything I was given. But I would just be so lonely without Huntie. I know you and Mr. Blair always paid me a lot of attention and gave me so much love.."

" But the love of a mate is different," Mrs. Blair said. "I know, I felt the same way when Tony married me! I understand my Dear." shook her head. " If you truly love Hunter and he truly loves you, than…that's all that really matters. You have my full blessing!" she hugged Colleen again.

"Thank you, Mrs. Blair!"

"You just be happy, Honey. That's all I want is for you to be happy."

"I am! I'm so happy!"

I Know, I can tell just by your eyes." she smiled. "I'm going to miss you so much..but God bless you both!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Blair." After one last huge hug, Colleen stood up. "So..who haven't you met?" Colleen took Mrs. Blair over to where everyone else was and introduced her to everyone. Soon Confuse-Us poked his head in.  
'OK, Hunter? Colleen? Are you both ready?"

Hunter smiled at Colleen and took her hand with a mixture of jov and excitement. "Yeah..I think we are." Hunter escorted Colleen into the openeng of the mountain and one by one everyone else followed suit.


	12. Tonight I Celebrate My Love

This is it…the event we've been waiting ten long years for!

They all went into the side of Confuse-Us's mountain. It was obvious that a pre-wedding cleanup had just taken place. His main ceremonial room had that fresh-cleaned look. The floors were shiny and there were fresh candles in their shiny holders at the ends of the pews. There was a huge red carpet leading to the crystal alter at the very end, with a huge golden cross on the wall directly behind. Confuse-Us came forward and stood directly behind the crystal alter. "Hunter? Colleen? Will both of you join me up here?"

Hunter and Colleen smiled at one another, took each other's hand, and slowly made their way up the isle, Colleen holding her rose bouquet happily as the Space Rovers formally filed into the pews. Exile, Blitz, Shag, and Muzzle sat in the front pews, making sure that Starbright and Cherie Blair sat the closest. Confuse-Us cleared his throat. "Shall we begin?" Everyone around him nodded as he opened his book and everyone around him got solumn. "Friends, family. We have all gathered here today on this special night to witness the joining of these two dogs before us as mates for life. To witness the pledges they will make and the new life they will take together. Let us pray," and they all bowed their heads.

Meanwhile in the White House Clinton and Hilary came into the kitchen for a late night snack. "Hey," Bill told one of the cooks. "Grill us up some French Fries.."

"Bill." Hilary said,. 

"Uh…chop up some carrot sticks.." Bill said quietly. He sat down next to Hilary. "Well.." Bill sighed. "It's almost over…and what a long, strange trip it's been. " Hilary nodded. "Gonna miss this place, ya know."

"Oh, I know," Hilary mumbled to herself. But she said. "Well, hopefully it might not be too longer until I'm here again!"

Whoo-Whee…that'll be real nice!" Bill agreed. He looked around him. "It's pretty quiet around here tonight, ain't it? Wonder what Hunter's doing? Is he in his doghouse?"

"Go look," Hilary said. "He's probably asleep." Bill went outside,. But came back in a short time late. "He's not there."  
"Not in his doghouse?"

"Nope."

"Maybe he's gone off on a walk. You know that dog of yours, he's always off on some adventure. He'll be back."

"Yeah," Bill laughed, sitting back at the table. "Wonder what he's up to right now?"

"TOday and always, Amen!" Confuse-Us finished.

"Amen!" the guests all said.

"This is a very special moment..for all of us," Confuse-Us said. "The moment when any pair of dogs take the solumn sacred vows that unite them for life is always holy, loving, and special. But for these two it is no doubt one of the most special things to have every happened to either one of them. For, Colleen and Hunter have come together, not just from two separate streets…not from two separate cities..not even from two separate states. They have come together fro two different countries entirely. Colleen was born and raised on the streets of London, and Hunter is American born and bread…yet fate, and I believe the will of Our Lord, have lead them to cross the ocean separating them..to overcome that great obsticle, and to be chosen..both of them…as the courageous warriors known as the Road Rovers that we all know and love. Fate intertwined as they became Leader and Second-In-Command..and allowed them to spend so much time together..so much so the seeds of love took root among them, which lead to us being here tonight. We all celebrate with them tonight. Celebrate the love that has developed here, and celebrate the destiny that was and is. The destiny and the fate that always was, and their souls which will be joined together as we speak. I happen to know both of these individuals personally. I know their birth and their backgrounds. Both of these individuals have had hard childhoods. Losing their parents, or having them be taken away. Growing up on the streets fighting for food, being forgotten by negligent masters, defending themselves in Shelters. Courting death and hunger. Yet, from the ashes of these hard childhoods, they have found the greatest miracle of all. One another. Their hard lives as puppies have lead them to be strong independent individuals. However they have decided they would be better off taking the rest of life's journey together, rather then continue separately." He turned to Hunter just then. "Hunter, will you in the eyes of God and in front of these witnesses to take this woman as your mate and wife? Will you promise to love, honor and cherish her all the days of your life? Will you help her, honor, her stand beside her and cherish her through good times and bad, through happy times and sad? Through sickness and health will you treat her right and forever be faithful till the end of your life?"

"I will," Hunter said happily

"Colleen, will you in the eyes of God and in front of these witnesses to take this man as your husband and mate? Will you promise to love, honor and cherish him all the days of your life? Will you help him, honor him, stand beside him and cherish him through good times and bad, through happy times and sad? Through sickness and health will you treat him right and forever be faithful till the end of your life?"

"I will," Colleen said with tears of joy in her eyes.

Confuse-Us waved his hand over the company. "I now ask all the people I now see…is there any reason this marriage cannot be?"

Persia stood up. "For the Space Rovers and me, there is no reason this marriage cannot be."

Exile stood up then. "For Muzzle, Starbright, and me, there is no reason this marriage cannot be."

Blitz stood up then. "For Shag and me, there is no reason this marriage cannot be." When he sat down there was a pause. Exile gentily nudged Mrs. Blair and whispered quickly into her ear.

"Oh..oh..," she quickly stood up then. "For Tony and me, there is no reason this marriage cannot be." She sat down and mouthed a quick 'Thank you' to Exile.

Confuse-Us waved his hand toward Hunter and Colleen. "I now ask the both of you now, have you now come here willingly and of your own free wills to be joined forever as mates for life?  
"Yes," Hunter and Colleen both said together. Starbright sniffled and wiped tears from her eyes. Shag pulled a hankerchief out of his fur and gave it to her. She whispered 'Thank you,' to him as the tears fell from her happy eyes. Shag pulled out another hankerchief and blew his nose tearfully.

"Please face each other and pronounce your vows that will reunite you forever." Hunter and Collen faced each other.

'Colleen," Hunter began. "Ever since I was a small puppy I never understood a lot about the world. What the world held for me..what I was meant for. I never knew what it was like to do or feel a lot of things, like love. I never honesty knew what love, aside from the love I had from my Mom, was. (Starbright's eyes got more teary) But in you, Colleen, I found y answer. In you I've found someone who accepts me as I am, you've believed in me and cheered me on even when the times looked bleak. You might not have agreed with some of my plans, but you helped me with them anyway, and I honestly don't know what I'd be without you. In you I've found someone who I enjoy being with more than anyone else. Every moment we've ever spent together…I remember every minute, every second. The happiest times as a Road Rover to me are the timmes I spent with you. In you I've found what I was looking for..the meaning of love. Colleen, I promise from the bottom of my heart to always let you know how much I love you every day. I promise to stand beside you and help you, the way you've always stood beside me,. But most of all, Colleen, I vow that I will be the most honest and faithful husband to you forever."

Starbright sniffled. "That's my boy!" she gasped to herself.

Colleen faced Hunter with tears in her eyes. "Huntie, growing up on the streets of London, I never thought I'd ever meet someone like you. You are without a doubt the sweetest, kindest, most honest, most thoughtful dog I've ever met in me life, and me life would be empty without you in it. I never thought I would ever see a day like this, I never thought I'd ever find true love with anyone. But the moment I laid eyes on you, the second we greeted each other in the Headquarters two years ago, I knew that you were the one I wanted to love. You were the one I wanted to stand beside me…and you were the one I wanted to stand beside. You always treat me like a equal, you never speak down or are condescending to me because of my gender, you believe in me and you're always there for me. And I vow to always be there for you. I vow to you tonight all me love and e faithfulness. I vow I will never leave your side no matter where fate takes us. I will never stop believing you and all we've ever stood for. And I vow with all me heart that through sickness, through health, through tears, through laughter, I will always, always love you, like I have when we first met."

By this time even Exile had teared up. 'I LOVE happy nights!" he sniffled.

"Re roo!" Shag sniffed, blowing his nose. Mrs. Balri was blotting tears from her eyes.

Exile noticed out of the corner of his eye Blitz had his head down. He tried to look into his face. "Blitz, are YOU crying?"  
"No, no, I'm good," Blitz said, but it sounded like he was choking on his words.

"Now we come to the exchanging of dog tags," Confuse-Us said. "This part of the ceremony represents thes two dogs belonging to one another for the rest of each other. Who has the tags?" Shag stood up and pulled two dog tags out of his fur. Confuse-Us said a blessing over them, took Hunter's tag and gave it to him. "Please fasion this tag to Colleen's collar."

Hunter did so and repeated the vows after Confuse-Us. "I give you this tag as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. With the giving of this tag, may I forever belong to you and you alone in the eyes of God."

Colleen then took her tag Confuse-Us gave to her and fashioned it to Hunter's collar. "I give you this tag as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. With the giving of this tag, may I forever belong to you and you alone in the eyes of God."

"With the exchange of these tags..and the joining of your left hands," He took their hands and blessed them. "by the power invested in me as the Great Wise Dog, the Lord God Almighty and His Lord our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, I now declare that you, Hunter, and you, Colleen, are united as mates for life and husband and wife!' He smiled. "You may seal your union!" Hunter pulled Colleen into his arms and kissed her with such a deep love and tenderness it took everyone's breath away. Everyone stood up and applauded loudly.

"I am not going to cry..I am not going to cry.." Blitz tried to will himself..but even he couldn't stop the tears.

Starbright was the first on her feet to embrace Colleen and Hunter. Soon everyone was surrounding the newlyweds, hugging, them congratulating them.

"Come, Confuse-Us! You are invited to reception too!"

"Why thank you," Confuse-Us said happily. "Just let me blow out the candles and I'll join ya there! But neither Hunter nor Colleen heard him, for thy were lost in another kiss so full of love it filled the room with it's sweetness.

  



	13. Ordinary Miracle

The song in the background in 'Ordinary Miracle' by Sarah Mc

The Sky, and Cloud Rovers landed right outside the Road Rover Headquarters. Exile, Blitz, Shag, Muzzle, and Starbright all piled out of the Cloud Rover and rushed inside as the Space Rovers, with Mrs. Blair and Confuse-Us, all got out of their spaceship and crowded around the Sky Rover and burst into spontaneous applause as Hunter and Colleen came out.

"Congraduations to the both of you!" Persia said. They formed an isle and Hunter and Colleen walked through into Headquarters.

__

It's not that unusual  
When everything is beautiful.  
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

The sky knows when its time to snow,  
Don't need to teach a seed to grow.  
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

Once they got into Headquarters, their eyes lit up by what they saw in there. A huge sign, obviously made in a hurry spelled out: CONGRADULATIONS HUNTER AND COLLEEN: UNITED AT LAST! And Exile, Blitz, Starbright, and Shag quickly threw rice upon the newlyweds, making them laugh. Some of it got on the Space Rovers and Mrs. Blair.

__

"Hey, I'm already married, thank you very much!" she laughed.

__

Colleen and Hunter laughed and went around hugging everyone. Shag quickly went into the kitchen arena and pulled out flour, eggs, milk, vinella flavoring.

"What's Shag doing?" Hunter asked.

"He is making feast for wedding reception! Topped off by BEAUTIFUL wedding cake! Right, Shag?"  
"Rah!" Shag answered.

"You guys don't have to do that!" Hunter said, touched beyond belief.

__

"Hey, we want to, Comrade!" Exile said. "You two deserve best we can give!"

__

"Ja, you don't get married every day ya know!" Blitz joined in.

_Life is like a gift they say  
Wrapped up for you everyday;  
Open up and find a way  
To give some of your own._

Isn't it remarkable?  
Like every time a rain drop falls,  
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

"Come now, Comrades, I believe it is time for first dance!" Everyone applauded and agreed. Blitz turned on the radio and a soft love song began to play. Everyone made room as Hunter swept Colleen up into his arms in a slow love dance. It was obvious to everyone in the room that as the dance went on and the couple danced, they were slowly forgetting everyone else was there,. To Hunter and Colleen, the whole Headquarters had faded away and they were in their own world. Lost in each other's eyes and arms, they were unaware of any place, any time, anything but one another. Slowly Hunter pulled Colleen into a deep, searching kiss. He trailed his lips down her neck. She kissed him back on his lips and down his cheek. He let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer, Colleen wrapped her arms around his neck. _  
_  
_Birds in winter have their fling  
But always make it home by spring.  
It's just another ordinary miracle today  
When you wake up everyday  
Please don't throw your dreams away;  
Hold them close to your heart  
Cause we're all a part  
Of the ordinary miracle.  
Ordinary miracle_

Do you want to see a miracle?

\

Blitz looked at Persia, who smiled at him. H glanced at Exile who smiled and urged him. He made his way over to her and bowed slightly. "Would you care to dance?"

"I'd love to," Persia answered stepping into his arms.

Exile offered his arm to Mrs. Blair. One of the male Space Rovers offered his arm to Starbright. Soon the whole room was dancing.

"Well," Mrs. Blair said happily. "I've never danced with a Russian Dog before!"

"Am I doing alight ski?" Exile asked.

"Oh yes, you're a perfect gentileman," Cherie answered. "Tony would be jealous, you do better than him!" she giggled.

"That's in part to Bolshoi Ballet!" Exile said happily.

Right after the dance ended, Hunter gave Colleen another deep, longing kiss. H glanced toward his bedroom door. "Well…" he whispered.

Colleen smiled. "Well.." she answered. "Are you nervous, Huntie?"  
"Yeah..a little…" Hunter admitted. "I don't know if I ever told you…but I'm pretty nervous..mostly due to the fact..I've never done..you know…_that," _he glanced again toward his bedroom. "With anyone before. I mean..I've never had a girlfriend ever…so I've never even thought about..well, you're gonna be my very first."

"So will you, Huntie," Colleen said. "Yeah, I've had several boyfriends..but we've never done _that_ either. I always knew I'd save meself for the one I truly loved. I'd give meself to me one true love, who I know I'd never ever leave and would love always."

"So, I guess we'll learn together tonight."

"It's the best way to learn."

"Definitely," he gav her a deep passionate kiss. "Ready?"  
"Ready." He swooped her up into his arms and slowly carried her into his bedroom. He stopped and turned around as everyone began clapping. "Celebrate our Union!" Hunter said happily as he and Colleen, in a shower of rice entered his bedroom and carefully closed the door. Mrs Blair looked on questioningly.

"Is THAT what normally happens at a dog wedding?" she asked.

"Yes," Exile said. "After first dance, bride and groom officially mate for first time!"

"Wow," Mrs. Blair said. "It's rather different from a human wedding. We usually have the ceremony, THEN the reception..THEN the…mating."

"Well, here we prepare reception as mating is taking place. We prepare food and dance a little more.

"Fascinating!" Mrs Blair said as they moved back into the main room. "Remarkable culture you all have!" She stopped in front of the Transdogmifires lined up against the wall. "So..which one of these is hers?"

__

"The second one," Exile pointed to it.

"So, she goes in there as my dog…and comes out looking like you?"  
"Yes, exactly," Exile said as Blitz came over to them.

"Would you like to see a demonstration?" Blitz asked.

"Oh yes, very much," Cherie said. Blitz went into the Transdogmifier. A lot of smoke quickly surrounded him..and when it cleared, Blitz, as a normal Doberman, come right out. Cherie's eyes flew wide. Blitz then went back into the Transdogmifier and came back out as his normal self.

"That's amazing!" she gasped. "So, THIS is where my little Lady goes whenever she disappears on me, huh?" She looked around. 'Incredible!"

"Would you like guided tour of Headquarters?":  
"Very much, thank you!"

"Hey, Shag, watch what you're putting in that cake, we have a human here tonight!" Blitz said, rushing to stop Shag from heading into the toilet.

__

It seems so exceptional  
That things just work out after all.  
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

Sun comes up and shines so bright  
And disappears again at night.  
It's just another ordinary miracle today.  
ohh ohh ohh, ohh ohhh ohh...  
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

Starbright accepted a glass of iced water from the sink from Blitz. "Thank you." she said. "I must admit, this is the most fun I've ever had. So.." she looked around. "This is where is happens, huh?"

__

"Ja, this is Headquarters. "

__

"It's fantastic, unlike anything I've ever seen. I hope Exile can give me a tour when he's done with Mrs. Blair!"

__

Another slow song came on the radio and Persia approached Blitz. "Would you care to dance?"  
"Sure!"

__

A little while later Professor Hubert was in his bed trying to sleep, when a very pleasant aroma overtook his expert noise. "A smell worth standing up for!" h mumbled. Opening his eyes, he sat straight up. "Saaaaaaay..who's making a cake at this hour?!" Quickly he got up and put on a robe. He made his way into the main room…and stopped short at the party going on in front of him. "Hey, what's going on in here?!"


	14. Hubert Finds Out

Hubert took in the scene in front of him. Blitz was busy over at the blender , explaining to Persia just how to make the perfect pepperment milkshake, and she was listening intently. Shag was pulling the freshly baked cake out of the oven. The Space Rovers were still dancing to the music on the radio Why were the Space Rovers there? "Excuse me!" he cried out. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him. "Uh..hi, guys. Uh..what are you doing having a party at this hour without inviting me?!"

Blitz then took one of the peppermint milkshakes and handed it ovr to the Professor. "Here, Professor, come join us in our celebration!"

"What are we celebrating?"

Persia came over just then. "Nice to see you again, Professor Hubert!"

"You remmeber Persia, don't you Professor?"

'Of course, nice to see you again…uh..will someone please tell me what's going on here?"

Starbright come over then. Blitz put his hand on her shoulder. "Professor Hubert, may I introduce Starbright, Hunter's mother? Starbright, this is out technician and lab tester, Professor Hubert."

Starbright eagerly shook his hand. "How do you do, Professor?"

"Oh, how do you do.? So, you're Hunter's mmother huh? Well, you should be very proud, your son is a fine young man. Very brave leader, very smart, very responsible."

'Oh, I am, I am." she beamed. "He makes a Mother so proud..but of course my pride is doubled with the addition of my new daughter!"

"Oh, Hunter has a baby sister?"

Blitz gave him a Look. "No, Professor!"

"Oh..oh, you've FOUND his sister! Well, how nice, is she here, I'd LOVE to meet her too!"

"Uh…no, Professor, I don't have a daughter."

"But..you just said you were proud of your daughter!"

"I am. But she's not my biological daughter!"  
'Well, I'm totally confused! "

"Ja know, for a Professor, you don't get it!" Blitz said, exasperated. "We're all gathered here to celebrate a wedding!"

"Well," Hubert raised his glass. "I'll drink to that, who got married?"

"And this is Main Conference Room," Exile said, leading Mrs. Blair into the room where the screen, tables, and chairs were. "We all gather here when Master tells us of our missions. We all sit at this table, Master stands up at podium up there. He puts images on big screen up there and that's how we know what to do!"

"Amazing! So, where's chair?"

"She sits right there, next to Hunter." Cherie smiled and sat at Colleen's place. "Wow..so this is where it happens. Then you go into that vehicle room to set off?"  
"Duh."

"This is such a remarkable place. This is fascinating to look at." They made their way back to the main room in time to hear the Professor's question. "Ah, so we finally got you up, huh, Professor? Well, we have another person to help celebrate our Comrade's marriage!"

"WHO got married, I ask again?"

"Look around you, Professor. Who isn't here right now?" Professor looked around carefully. His eyes widened.

"Hey…where are Hunter and Colleen?" Starbright blushed. "Uh..where are they? Where…"he then gasped a bit. "Wait..you mean..you…he..she?"

"You betski! They have gotten married! They are now one and the same!" He turned around. 'Oh, Professor Hubert, may I introduce Mrs. Cherie Blair, the wife of the Prime Minister of England himself! Mrs. Blair, this is Professor Hubert, he designs our vehicles and is one of our scientists."

"Oh..Mrs. Blair.."Hubert quickly looked down, realizing he was in his pajamas and robe. "I…I hope you'll forgive my appearance! I…" he stuck out his hand. 'An honor, Ma'am!"  
"How do you do, Professor? Exile was just showing me the equipment and vehicles. You desngined them ALL? How very impressive!"

"Uh..thank you Mrs. Blair. Hope you'll forgive my shock, ordinarily we don't allow humans in here.."

"Oh, don';t worry, I already promised I wouldn't tell a soul. But..I just HAD to be here..you understand don't you? I love Colleen deeply and I so want to share this very important day with her!"

"Of course, I understand. Well, as long as it's OK with the Master."

"Well, uh..the Master doesn't know about this yet, Professor."

"Wait..wait..you mean to tell me that Master doesn't know about this yet?"

"No…"Blitz said quickly. "And we would appreciate it if you didn't tell him yet, Profesor. You see, this all has to do with President Bush winning the election."

"Yes, yes I heard about that, but what does that have to do with Hunter and Colleen?"

"Everything!" Blitz said coming forward. "You see, Professor, obviously Hunter cannot stay in the White House anymore. But moving away from it also means he might have to leave the Rovers.."

I see."

"And Hunter and Colleen are in love, Professor. You may not have seen it, and believe me I chose not to se it for the longest time. But if you take the time to look, Professor , it's there. They've been in love for the longest time, and they don't want to be separated, Professor."

"I don't blame them for that."

"So, Hunter proposed to Colleen, and they just got married a few hours ago tonight. We are telling the Master tomorrow. For now, we want them to be happy. Especially me, Professor. I owe it them, because of all I did. Hunter and Colleen are true soul mates Professor. They belong together. I've never seen two people who love ach other more, and I do mean that. They deserve each other and they deserve to b married. You may disagree, Professor.." 

"I don't disagree with this, I accept this."

"I know you might not….huh?"

"You do?" Exile said,.

"Certainly, my boy! I've seen looks pass between Hunter and Colleen myself!" he smiled. "I thought one of these days they might make honest dogs out of each other!"

"Well, Professor, grab yourself a nice pepperment milkshake and join us in a toast!": Onc everyone had one, Exile raised his in the air. "Comerades,a toast! To Bunter and Colleen, our dear Comrades, on this, the happiest night of their lives! They are at this moment mating. May they have a wonderful marriage, filled with joy, love, and happiness!"

"Cheers!" Blitz said as they all raised their glasses.

"And as they go through lif, even though they might not know where thy might be going, they will always be our friends, and we will always love them!"

'Amen!" Persia said.

"Hear, hear down the hatch!" they all raised their glasses again.

"Their love will stand the test of time, and.."

"Will you hurry it up or they're gonna come out of the room before you finish this speech!"

"Sorry. To Hunter and Colleen! May they be hapy and know true love forever!"


	15. The Marriage Has Begun!

Colleen lay on her stomach upon the rumpled bed, her chin happily resting upon her paws. Hunter was stretched out on top of her, kissing and licking her back. She sighed happily, closing her eyes, not wanting to believe this was really happening. Making love to Hunter was everything she had dreamed it would be. She felt Hunter stroke her hair and kiss the top of her head, and she rolled over to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck, nothing at all between them but the bedsheets. "You sure that was your first time, Love?" she teased happily.  
"Was it yours?" he teased back before they both laughed. "So...I guess I was alright?"  
"You were so wonderful!" Colleen cried out. "You don;t think I was too forward?"  
"No, you were a perfect lady," Hunter reassured her. He gazed at her, her usually long and beautiful hair was mussed up and tangled up due to intense fits of passion. Her face was flushed and out of breath.

In other words…she was absolutely beautiful.

"Hope our howling didn't bother anyone else out there!' Hunter said suddenly. They laughed again when they recalled their ever-so-passionate orgasm. He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her more deeply than she had ever been kissed before. "I'm so honored your first time was with me!" he whispered into her ear. 'I love you, Colleen."  
"I love you, too!" she whispered back to him. She kissed him again with all the love and passion in her heart. The kiss deepened and their arms tightened around one another. They massaged each other's arms and wrapped them around their bodies. They began to massage each other's backs, kissing the entire time. Soon Colleen pulled away, gasping for breath, and began to roll over onto her stomach. But Hunter gentily stopped her and tenderly rolled her back onto her back, wrapping his arms around her.  
"Isn;'t this how humans make love?" he whispered. "gazing into each other's eyes?"  
"I think so, Huntie."  
"Maybe we could try it this way?"  
"We're married..I don't see why not, Love."

He lowered his lips to hers again. Slowly he reach out and took her breast, massaging it over and over in his hand. 'Oh, Hunter.." she whispered as the passion and feeling inside of her grew. 'Oh..Huntie!!! HUNITE!!" Soon her howling was heard inside the room..soon joined with his own passionate howls of love as they made love the way neither one of them ever thought they could.

"These are absolutely delicious! What did you say thy were called?" Starbright asked Blitz.

"Peppermint milkshakes," Blitz smiled.

"Peppermint milkshakes? Well, they're really good!"

"Aren't they, though?" Exile said. "So tell me, Comrade Starbright, in Wyoming, what do you do at celebrations like this?"

"Well, we usually have many different foods, such as you have here..this Shag can cook!" she took an appitiser from the nearby dish and popped it into her mouth, licking her lips. "Of course there are live musicians playing things like the banjo and fiddle.."

"Then what happens next?"

"Next?"

"Yes, what happens then?"  
"Well, just what you'd expect." Blitz and Exile looked at each other questioningly. Starbright smiled. "We dance!"

"Ooh!" Exile smiled. Starbright stood up and took Exile's hands as she lead him in a bright happy dance all around the floor. Suddenly she ran into Blitz. Blitz smiled at her and handsomely bowed. Starbright curtseyed and took his hands, lading him in small circles around the room. Exile gasped a bit/.

"Comrade, you can dance!"

"We still do a few things in Berlin!" Blitz said smiling. Soon Starlight was dancing with Exile and Blitz. She was even teaching the Space Rovers some square dancing. Soon they were all laughing and enjoying themselves, even Professor Hubert, who had changed his clothes and was now enjoying himself right along with the rest of the Rovers. Shag came over with another plate of appetizers, which he offered to the Professor.

"Oh, thanks!" he said, taking one and popping it into his mouth, Just then the sound of a door opening was heard. "Uh oh, everyone, they're back!" Everyone got quiet and all livned up near the entrance to the front door. Soon Hunter and Colleen, dressed again and with their fur combed, emerged from the bedroom to tremendous applause.

"This marriage has now begun!" Confuse-Us proclaimed. Everyone cheered. "Now, let's all celebrate! Celebrate the love that is and the love that always will be!"

"Cheers, cheers, cheers, may they have happiness for years and years!" All the guests cried out, raising their glasses in the air.

Blitz then stood on a chair and tapped the side of his peppermint milkshake. "Attention, everyone! In honor of the bride and groom I would like to offer them a traditional German blessing!" He said a prayer in German and translated it for them. "Hunter, Colleen, I wish you every piece of joy and happiness in the entire world. I'm really glad were were able to bury the hatchet and become friends…and believe me, if you need anything, I'll be more than happy to help you, cause now I see for myself that you two are true soul-mates. You were made for each other…and I hope someday I myself can be that lucky. May you hav a wonderful life together!"

"Hear, hear!"

"Cheers!"

Exile stood up. "Hunter? Colleen? This is big moment and wonderful night for both of you. I just want to say that in all my life growing up in Siberia I never thought I'd be that blessed to have gift of your friendship! Hunter, you are wonderful, brave, daring, strong leader. Colleen, I know our team is never in any danger as long as you are in it. The way you fight so bravely is an inspiration to all of us. You are both loyal, caring friends and we are all the lucky ones to have known you. May you have love, joy, and blessings forever, and may you always make each other smile. I love you both, Comrades!"

"Thank you, Exile," Hunter said happily. "Thank you all for coming here. I'd like to offer a toast myself!' He raised his glass. "To my beautiful, beautiful bride! In all my life I'd never thought I'd be so blessed as to have married the most beautiful dog ever in the universe." He looked down. "I..I don't want to kill the mood..but I know that in a month and a few weeks we'll both have to leave you. We admit, we're gonna miss all of you from the bottom of our hearts. But I promise you this, Colleen and I will never ever in our lives forget this wonderful night, and this amazing gift you have all given to us!" He held Colleens hand. "But Colleen has without a doubt given me the most wonderful gift in the world! I swear I'll every day cherish her every waking moment. I love you, Colleen. Always anf forever."

Collen raised her glass. "A toast to my wonderful husband. You are the kindest, sweetest dog I've ever known. I wonder all the time what I ever did to deserve your love. I'm the lukiest girl in the entire world just because I get to stand right beside you ever day. I'm honored to be your partner, your lover, and now, your wife!" she turned and faced everyone. Hunter and I are gonna miss you all fiercely, but we will never ever forget this night Thank you, Exile, thank you, Blitz! Starlight..now I see where Hunter got all his charm from! Thank you, Confuse-Us and Space Rovers! Mrs. Blair, thank you for coming. I'm gonna miss you terribly. But I'll never forget this act of kindness. " She grabbed Hunter's hand. "Hunter, thank you for this wonderful night, and for just being you. I love you, Huntie!"

A little later on Exile walked outside to get some fresh air, and he saw Blitz sitting on the front stoop staring into space with a worried look upon his face. "Blitz? " Exile asked, coming over to him. "Blitz? Are you alrght?"

Blitz turned around. 'Ja, I guess."

"Comrade? Is everything Oakie-Doakie? Where is ersia?"

"She went to the bathroom."

Exile sat dwn next to him. "So..you look like you're having a good time tonight!"

Blitz smiled. "Ja, ja..I am. You're right, Exile. Persia DOES like me! I just had to give it a chance."

"See, what I tell you? All you needed was chance. So why you look so worried?"

Blitz looked down at his clentched fists. "I'm scared, Exile. I'm worried. about what's going to happen to us when Hunter and Colleen go away…what's going to happen to our team?"


	16. Flashbacks

Exile sighed and sat down next to Blitz on the stair. "I know what you mean, Comrade. We've all ben through a lot together, huh?"

"Ja, that's for sure," Blitz agreed. "Remember when we all first met each other and when the Master asked us to greet ach other we did..our way?"

MASTER: But first I want you to greet the members of your pack.

ROVERS: Yes, Sir! (all go down on their knees and 'greet' each other saying things like 'Nice to meet you, Hi there, etc.')

MASTER (sighs): Perhaps I should have considered cats!

Exile laughed. "He should have known what he was getting himself into getting dogs!" He and Blitz both laughed. "You remember also how Colleen attacked that dog for the first time? When it looked like he was going to get Hunter?"

(HUNTER runs and ducks behind vehicle as CANO-MUTANT chases and corners him. Suddenly COLLEEN screams and jumps on top of vehicle)

COLLEEN: Hiya, AKITA! (proceeds to beat up CANO-MUTANT) SHAR-PEI, SHITZU, HEEL! RIN! TIN! TIN! SIT UP! ROL OVER! PLAY DEAD! AI, YI,YI,YI!' (CANO MUTANT is knocked out) 

Exile and Blitz laughed at the memory. "Boy, they underestimated Colleen!"

"I think we all did at first," Blitz said. "I know I did!"

"Hunter never did," Exile pointed out. " He always saw her as equal."

"He saw every one of us as an equal," Blitz said sadly, staring out into space. Exile knew he was still ashamed of the way he treated Hunter. " I mean, I was so mean to him a lot. I was pointing out his background, like that was his fault. Pointing out his faults, never seeing what he can do..what he ALWAYS did.."

HUNTER (saluting to MASTER, but realizing he has tennis ball in his mouth, which he spits out): Honored to lead the way, Sir. I'm 50 retriever!"

BLITZ: And 100 Mutt! I'm not taking orders from some mixed breed, I should be top dog! I have super claws, super teeth, what does HUNTER have?! What are YOUR super powers, huh?

HUNTER: Well, let me see. I'm Super-Playful, Super Loyal, Super Trusting (hold up sign that says 'Lawyers Are Your Friends') and Super, Super Friendly. Can I sniff ya?

BLITZ (pushes him away): NO!

HUNTER: Well, alright, but that's what part of being Super Friendly's all about!

BLITZ: Ok, these are the stupidest super powers I've ever heard of. Now go away! (throws ball, HUNTER runs at super speed to catch it, leaving trace of fire)

HUNTER: Of course, I'm Super FAST, too!

Exile squeezed Blitz's shoulder. "Do not be too hard on yourself, Comrade. Hunter and Colleen forgave you. Now you forgive yourself. Blitz shook his head.

"I can't. You know this whole thing is really y fault. Everytime I questioned Hunter's Leadership I always wished there was some way he could be pushed out and I had a chance to take over…and now my wish is coming true…and NOW I don't want it too!"

"Get HOLD of yourself, Comrade! That's just coincidence. It's not your fault!"

Blitz staid quiet for a few minutes. "Hunter always could think of plans really fast, couldn't he?"

"You betski! Like when you tried to break into Storm's fortress and got yourself captured, Hunter thought of plan real quick!"

HUNTER: All right, here's the plan, I'll keep the guards busy, you three sneak in.' 

COLLEEN: Oh, tricky!

(HUNTER runs to the front of the guards, howls loudly, and takes off so fast the trail of fire is seen. The guards follow him)

Blitz looked at Exile. "Did Hunter really think that up that quick?"

Exile smiled. "Yep, he did."

"H really is true to the Pack."

"We all are," Exile said sadly. "Hunter influenced us all to be. Of course, we'd be nothing without Colleen either. Remember how she was most important in plan to break into that dog fortress?"

SHAG is in the prison, waiting for everyone around him to be asleep. He pulls shorts out of his fur and throws it at camera, blocking it. He scratches himself…and COLLEEN comes out of where she was hiding in fur.

COLLEEN: Blimey, I thought you'd never switch positions. I got a bloomin crick in me neck!(one DOG sees this, looks at bowl of water, and pushes it away. COLLEEN talks on headphones) Mama Lion to Pack Leader, Mama Lion to Pack Leader, do you read me?

Blitz sighed at the memory. "Ja. Colleen was the best one of us to sneak on Shag and get into the prison. I don't know if any one of us can do that!"

"Certainly not ME!" Exile said. "I give poor Comrade a backache!" They both laughed sadly.

"What are w going to DO without them,. Exile?" Blitz said.

"I do not know. It wont be the same around here without Hunter trying to cheer us all up, or to think up quick plans almost as fast as he can run!"

"He is so loyal to team, it's admirable!"

The volcano is blwoing up as ROAD ROVERS run to the vehicles.

HUNTER: (Quickly): Collen, Blitz, take the Sub Rover…wait a mminute, where's Muzzle?" (all look back to smoking volcano) Oh, no! (starts back, BLITZ stopps him)

BLITZ: Where are you going?

HUNTER: Muzzle's my pal, I gotta save him!

BLITZ: You'll never make it!

HUNTER: Hey, I have no choice!

BLITZ: Why?

HUNTER: It's one of my powers, I'm Super-Loyal!

"He was always so brave in all he did, and most of the time what he did was save US!" Blitz said. "Remember when we had to transfer that dog Sport to Florida and those bad guys shot at our plane.."

HUNTER jumps out of plane and faces solder who has perches on the wing.

HUNTER: OK, pal, you can shoot at me, but you can';t shoot at my friends! (SOLIDER tries to shoot HUNTER but misses. HUNTR takes out launcher) I take that back, Sky Jockey, you can't shoot at me either, too bad for you!

Exilee smiled at that. "You remember, too, how Colleen fought the Groomer when they tried to take Sport and his Master away?

(GROOMER is carrying SPORT and OLIVIA into the hanger.)

GROOMER: I can't WAIT to fix the two of you!

COLLEEN (jumping into view) Pardon? I abso-blooin-lutly LOVE the red tights, but that helmet has got to go!

GROOMER: WHAT DID YOU SAY?!

COLLEEN (grabs and throws GROOMER): HIYA, GUCCI!

Blitz grinned at the flashback. "Ja, I learned the hard way NOT to mess around with Colleen! "

"Never stopped you from trying, though!"

"Hey, give me a little credit, I'm persistent!"

"Don't be weird boy tonight!" Exile said.

"Don't worry, I said I'd stop, and I mean it, I've stopped.. I do NOT go after married dogs!" Blitz sighed. "But I have to admit, I feel sorry for anyone that does try to make a move on her from now on. Remember when we were trying to stop those Ninjas fro taking that Budda statue?"

"Oh, who could forget THAT!" Exile said, lauging a bit.

NINJA is about to attack SHAG. COLLEEN taps on his shoulder.

COLLEEN: Excuse me, fella? Care to dance? (Grabs NINJA and proceeds to beat him up) MACARENA! WATUSI! BUGALOO! THE STRADA, THE JERK, THE FRUGE, THE MASHED POTATO! FUNKY CHICKEN!

"Yeah…we have all been through a whole lot together, huh, Comrade?"

"Ja…" Blitz looked down. "Exile..ya know I always said I wanted to Lead..I'd be a good Leader?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't know now if I can! We're remembering all Hunter and Colleen did and all they can do, and all they have done...Exile, I've never done any of that! I always thought I could lead..I'm not sure anymore! I don't think…Exile, I can't do this, I can't be a leader!"

Exile sighed. "I can't either! Face it, Blitz, we are not them! We can't do all they can do."

"We're gonna fall apart, Exile. We can't do it..not alone!"

"I know."

Blitz stood up then/ I'm not going to stand for it. I'm gonna march right up to the Master and I'm gonna tell him that we need Hunter and Colleen here and he better think of something quick! We can't go on without them!"

"Blitz!' Exile stood up. "I go with you. We tll him together."

"Wow..ya know, I think that's the first time we've ever actually agreed on anything!"

"Not true! W agreed that time in the Amazon, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

The FISH CREATURES have surrounded SHAG. EXILE, BLITZ, MUZZLE watch from boat.

EXILE: The time, she has come.

BLITZ: I agree.

BOTH (untieing MUZZLE): Let's Muzzle them!

\ 

Exile and Blitz stood up "Come, Blitz, let's go right up to Master and tell him all this!

"Uh..I don't think we're going to have a chance!' Blitz pointed to the topmost window, which was his bedroom. The light was on and a voice was heard.

"What's all this noise?"

Exile and Blitz looked at each other. "Come on, Comrade, before ceremony is ruined!"


	17. Come Live With Me And Be My Love

Exile and Blitz raced into the Headquarters, nearly colliding with Persia in the process. "You MUST come quick!" she said urgently. "Master is up and he is wondering what is going on!" 

"Where did Hunter and Colleen go?" Exile asked.

"They went up to the White House so Hunter could persuade Clinton to take Colleen."

Exile turned to Blitz. "This is our chance, Comrade, we go talk to Master now before they get back."

Meanwhile Hunter and Colleen, in dog forms, both made their way to the back door of the White House. Hunter put his paws on Colleen's. "Don't worry, the moment they see you, they'll love you! Just stay out here. I'll be right back." Colleen nodded nervously. She had already taken off her collar and given it to Starbright, who promised to watch over it until she returned. Hunter licked her cheek, then made his way to the back. He pushed his way through the doggie door and raced over to where the Clintons were enjoying a movie in the living room. He barked loudly and ran around to Bill's feet.

"Hey, boy!" He smiled and petted the top of his head. "We were wondering where you'd run off to!" Hunter tugged on Bill's shirt and kept barking and barking as loud as he can. "Hey, Hunter, what's going on? What are you doing?" Hunter tugged at his shirt bottom until Bill finally stood up. "OK, OK, Hunter, I'm comin! "

"What's that dog doing?" Hilary said.

"I don't know, Hil. Hunter's trying to tell somthin! OK, boy, what do you wanna show me?" Hunter lead Bill outside in the backyard. "What are you gonna show me out here, Hunter?  
Hilary sighed. "He probably wants to show you the newest thing he dug up in the backyard! What, another tennis ball?! "

"Oh yeah?!" Bill said from outside. "Uh..Hil, you better come out here and look at this!"

"Why, Bill? I don't care what things he found outside in the backyard!"

"Uh, believe me, Hil, you cannot find THIS dug up in the backyard! You better get out here! "

Hillary sighed and got up, making her way to the backyard. She stared at what she saw. Bill slyly grinned.

"Well, well, well," he grinned at Colleen. "Who have WE here?! " He turnd to Hilary. "Look a.here! Ol' Hunter got a new girlfriend!" He bent down and shook Colleen's paw. "Well, how do ya do, little lady? Where did you come from?" he laughed a bit. Hunter barked a bit and lead Colleen to Bill's lap. Hunter put his paw on his lap, Colleen did the same. Bill grinned up at Hillary. "Hil…I think we got a problem here!" He turned to Hunter. "What are you trying to tell me, boy?" Hunter moved closer to Colleen, put his paw around her, and licked her cheek.

'AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!" Came a noise behind them, and Bill and Hilary turned to see some of their aides watching this cute picture.

"When did THIS happen, huh, Hunter?" Bill grinned. Hunter looked up at Bill and wined a bit, pulled Colleen closer to him. He ran into his doghouse ad pulled out the pillow he slept on. He caried it over, set it at Colleen's feet, and nudged it toward her. "Ok, boy, I think I get it." He turned to Hillary. "Hil…one more dog wouldn't be a lot of trouble, right?"

Hillary stared at him. "You gotta be kidding, Bill."

"Aw, but Hillary, look at them! Look at how cute they are. Aw, Hil, he wants her to come with us, ain;t it obvious! Besides, look at how gorgeous she is." He petted Hunter. "Ya got good taste there, Hunter! She's a beauty."

"He's definitely your dog, Bill," Hillary said under her breath.

"OH, please, Mrs. Clinton!" One of the Aides said. "She wouldn't be a bother, we'd take care of her!"

"Besides, look at Hunter's face, LOOK at it! It's so obvious he adores her. Please Mrs. Clinton, can't she stay?"

"PLease, please, she's so pretty!' More Aides said. "Well, I don't know, let's look.." she moved closer to Colleen and ran her fingers through her fur around her nack. "Uh oh, no collar. That means no home. She's a stray."

Bill kneeled down and petted Colleen's fur. "I think we can both agree she's GOT a home now! That what you want, Boy?" Hunter barked happily and ran around them both. Bill laughed. "I think that's a yes!" He got up and turned to the Aides. "Well, get the newest member of our family something to eat! What are we gonna call her?" 

"I don't know. "

"Come to think of she, she looks a lot like Tony's pet dog. What was her nam?"

"Colleen, " think." Colleen started barking eagerly at that. Bill laughed.

"I think she likes that name!"  
'OK, Colleen it is"

As they made their way back to the House Hilary was saying, "Well, they better behave themselves for the next few weeks, I'm not ready to be a puppy grandma yet?" She laughed. Hunter and Colleen looked at each other and barked happily.

"It worked, Huntie!" Colleen barked happily.

"Let's go see your new home, allow me to give you a tour."

Exile and Blitz made their way to the Main Room where the happy celebrations had suddenly come to a standstill. Everyone had turned and all eyes were fixed upon the opening, where the Master himself stood with his arms folded in front of him and an expressionless face. "You're making so much noise in here and I come in to find what's looking like a party in the middle of the night!"

"Well, uh..will you look at the time, we gotta go.." on of the Male Space Rovers said, trying to make for the door.

"NO ONE leaves this room until I find out what is going on here and why are you all here having a party, and…." Master stopped and looked around. 'Wait a minute..where are Hunter and Colleen?"

"They will be right back, Master," Blitz said as he and Exile came into the room. "As for what's going on here, it's very simple.." but he was interrupted when Shag came into the room singing 'Rah-dah!" and holding a beautiful sheet cake decorated with brightly colored icing flowers in his paws. But once he saw the Master he stopped and quickly tried to leave the room.

"Shag? What have you got there?" Master said.

"Ruh.."

"Shag..come here," Master said. "Come here, please. What is that you have there? May I see it?" Reluctantly Shag handed over the cake carefully. Master stared at it. "Congradulations, Hunter and Colleen on this your wedding night!" He looked up. "Shag? Blitz? Exile? What is this all about? What do you mean, 'your wedding night'? Hunter and Colleen got married?!"

"Yep! That's right," Hubert said. "Hunter and Colleen got married! Tonight!"

Master handed the cake carefully back to Shag and stared in shock. "They…they did?!" He stared a bit. "Well.." he sputtered. "Well, well, well." Just then a familiar face cae forward.

"Hello, Mr. Shapard, it's good to see you again!"

"Mrs. Blair," Master said in shock, shaking her hand. "Well…uh, nice to see you again too. What brings you here?"

Sh stared at him. "My Little Girl is getting married, and he asks what I'm doing here?!"

"I invited her to the elopement, Master, along with the Space Rovers and Hunter's mother." Blitz said, bec koning Starbright to come forward. "Starbright, this is Master, who gave us our powers and made us Road Rovers. Master, this is Hunter's Mother, Starbright."

Starbright stuck out her hand. "So, YOU'RE Master?! Wow, this is a complete Honor, Sir! You are nothing short of an absolute genius to have made such a fantastic invention. This whole place is amazing to me!"

"Well, thank you very much. Very nice to meet you . You do have a very brave and responsible son, and you should b very proud of him."

"Oh, I am, I am."

"So..they got married? Tonight? Why wasn't I told of this?"

"Well, Master, it was rather sudden," Blitz explained, coming forward. "Actually, Master, they did it because they didn't want to be separated!"

"Separated?!"

"Yes, Master. You see with Bush winning the election, Hunter knew that he would have to go with the Clintons and move out of the White House. This was going to be hard on all of us, but especially on Colleen. They are in love, Master, in love beyond all measure!"

"Yeah, I mean think, Master. 4 boys, 1 girl in 1 Headquarters…I mean did you NOT expect something to happen?! " Hubert pointed out. He added in a whisper, "Just be thankful it happened with Hunter and not HIM!" he pointed to Blitz as he said that.

"Master," Blitz said. "May I say something?" 

"Of course, Blitz." Master said.

"Master, Hunter ad Colleen are in love. They have loved each for the longest time. Their love is so strong I know that they would NOT have been able to even function in this team without each other. Thy complete each other, and they are true soul mates. So much so , Master that they wanted to get married RIGHT away. In fact WE didn't even know that they were going to be married. We just discovered them as they were about to go off and get married. I took the liberty of inviting Hunter's mother, Mrs. Blair, and the Space Rovers so we c an ALL celebrate this day together! They deserve it, Master. No one deserves it more than them. I think that you can agree that their love is unlike anything in the whole world, and even if it means they BOTH have to leave the team, they NEED to be together! "

"And we need them, Master," Exile said quickly. "We know that the Clintons took forever trying to decide where to live..but Hunter and Colleen are valuable members of this team and we love them both. Please, Master, they need to be on this team!"


	18. Let The World Know I Love You

"Ja, listen to him, Master!" Blitz said, once again coming forward.

"Master, Hunter and Colleen are our Leaders, and we do not know what we would do if thy were gone! Hunter has great Leadership abilities, and Colleen can fight with the best of them. They are never one to back down from a challenge, and they are fiercely loyal to the team."

"Hunter saved all our tushies once from being roasted in a huge fire by Parvo. Actually, he saved me from TWO fires, one by Parvo and one by Groomer! I owe him my life more than anyone here!"

"That's for sure," Exile said. "I do not think anyone here can come up with plans as quickly as Comrade Hunter and no one can fight as well as Comrade Colleen! Besides, Master, Hunter and Colleen are more than just our Leader and Second-In-Command…they are our friends! They are a lot of fun to be around, and they are always there when we need them. Even if it is to just play nice game of cards, we can count on them to be there!"

"Master, it is obvious that Hunter and Colleen do make up the team and they are our most valuable members! There is no other dog in the entire world who can hold a candle to either one of them. No matter what dog you might choose to become the new Leader.."

"Wait, wait, wait! Who said ANYTHING about me choosing a new Leader of the Rovers?"

Hunter and Colleen, meanwhile, returned in the transport vehicle back to Headquarters. After landing they immediately rushed to the Transdogmifiers to transmogrify themselves, change back into their wedding clothes, and rejoin the reception. After they had changed, Hunter gazed at his wife as she pinned her flower headdress back on hr head. She was so beautiful, the bright pink dress she was wearing combined nicely with her reddish-brown fur and her piercing blue eyes. He stared at her. She was so lovely, she was so brave, so loyal….and she was his! His true love and his soul mate forever…and he completely with every once of his being belonged to her. He knew now, no matter what should happen with the Rovers or with the Clintons, he and Colleen would ALWAYS have each other, until the very end of their days…and that was all he needed to know. Colleen turned around and saw Hunter sitting at the counter, with his had on his paws, staring. She smiled. "Anything wrong, Love?"

Hunter shook his head. "No," he said. "I was just admiring you. God, that gown looks beautiful on you!"

Colleen smiled. "That suit makes you look like my own Prince, Huntie-Wuntie," she came over and kissed him. He stood up and took her into his arms, kissing her with all the love he had. Suddenly, without warning, he picked her up and twirled her around and around. She laughed a bit.

"I know I've said this about 200 times tonight…but I'll say it 3,00 times more tonight alone! I LOVE you, Colleen!" His lips met hers in a dizzying kiss. He whooped out loud and twirled hr around again. "I LOVE THIS DOG!!" He practically screamed. "I LOVE THIS DOG!!!! HEAR ME WORLD, I LOVE THE MOST WONDERFUL, SWEETEST, LOVING, MOST TALENTED DOG IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!"

Colleen laughed and ran her fingers through his hair as he put her down. "Huntie, you're crazy."

Hunter smiled tenderly and ran his fingers gentily through her hair. "No, just madly in love!" He kissed her tenderly. "I want the entire world to know that I love the most wonderful dog in the entire world! I felt like yelling it from the highest mountain, letting the whole planet know! " He looked at Colleen and smiled. "Close your eyes."

"Huh?"  
"Close your eyes, just for a few minutes." Colleen did and Hunter used his super speed to rush out side and rush along the beach looking for just what he needed. In just a little bit Hunter said, 'All right, Colleen, you can open your eyes now." When she did Hunter was right next to her. He took her hand and lead her to the beeach. Colleen gasped at what she saw before her. There, made up of lots and lots of bright, many colored stones, was a special message, big enough for an airplane to see.

I LOVE COLLEEN!

Colleen looked at him, touched beyond belief at this gesture. Hunter wrapped his arms around her. "Just a message to the entire world!" He kissed the top of hr head. Colleen wrapped her arms around him passionately.

"I love this dog!" she whispered to herself. "I love this dog! I just love him so much!!" She gave him a deep, passionate kiss. "Oh Huntie," Colleen whispered into his ear. "I'm deeply in love with you!" He drew her into another kiss, letting the beach as well as his message, the lake, the Headquarters, the whole world fade away leaving the two of them all alone. Their arms tightened around each other. Forgetting the reception, forgetting their friends, forgetting everything except being with one another. They didn't even notice the Master coming out of the Headquarters and standing near them with his arms folded.

"A- HEM!" He said loudly, enough to startle them back into reality. "Good evening." he said. Hunter and Colleen looked at him, knowing he knew. But surprisingly his expression wasn't what thy had anticipated. He didn't look angry, sad, disappointed at all. Not anything thy had expected. He just stood there, with his arms folded with nothing at all written on face. Suddenly a small smile crept onto his face. "So…….I understand congratulations are in order!"


	19. Master's Plan

Master made his way over to where Hunter and Colleen were. "So," he began with a hug smile, "Exile and Blitz informed me of the happy news!" He reached over and gave them both a hug. "Congradulations!"

"So..you're not too mad at us, Master?" Hunter asked.

"Mad? At this? How can I be?" He laughed a bit. "I couldn't be happier for the both of you. "

"We're sorry we didn't invite you to this," Hunter tried to explain. "To tell you the truth, we were only planning to do this alone. Exile and Blitz kind of caught us, and so w had to take them along. But Blitz than surprised us when he invited my Mom, the Space Rangers, and Mrs. Blair. They also surprised us with this wonderful reception. We didn't mean to not tell you, but we wanted to get married as soon as we possibly can."

"I understand, Hunter," Master said. "Don't think I haven't noticed the looks that were passing between you, I did kind of figure something like this was eventually going to happen. I honestly couldn't be happier for you. But why did you feel you both had to do this so soon?"

Colleen came forward. "Because, Master, the truth is that Hunter and I don't want to be separated at all. Hunter and I love each other, Master, and we need to be together. Master, we know that in a month and a few weeks Hunter is leaving for Arkansas and he might not be able to be a Road Rover anymore. Master, even though I'm grateful that you mad me a Road Rover, and I'm extremely grateful that you allowed me to meet Hunter, if Hunter MUST leave the Rovers, than I'm leaving as well. I love Hunter with all me heart."

Hunter took Colleen's hand. "And I love Colleen,. Master. We want to go to Arkansas together as husband and wife and live together. "

"NO reason why you shouldn't if you love each other that much," Master said understandingly. "But, Hunter, why would you ever think that you wouldn't be allowed to be a Road Rover anymore?"

"Because I'm no longer the President's dog, and up until a few days ago the Clinton's didn't even know where they were going.."

"But you know now, right?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Well, this problem is solved than! Unfortunately, Hunter you might have to take just a temporary leave of absence from the Rovers while we finish building a brand new tube to transfer you to Headquarters." He glanced at Colleen,. "But now it seems that we also need to expand the tube to include TWO vehicles!" Colleen smiled and hugged Master happily. "Though I will admit, it's not gonna be the same around here for quite a while without the both of you. But believe me, Hunter, Colleen, I have absolutely no plans at all to replace either one of you. You are both extremely valuable to this team, that's why you were both chosen."

"So, I AM coming back as a Road Rover Master?"

"Indeed you are. You both are." Hunter cheered and embraced Colleen happily, giving her a deep kissed. They both embraced Master tightly.

"This is SUCH a night!" Hunter said. "When I woke up this morning I would NOT have predicted this! Not only am I still going to stay a Road Rover, my best friend and my true love is now my wife…and we're going to Arkansas!" He squeezed Colleen close to him. "Can this night BE any better?!"

"I don't think so, Huntie," Colleen agreed, looking into his deeply hansome eyes. "It can't be, at least for me.":

"Me, too, Colleen," HUnter said. "God, I love you so much!"

"I love you, too, Hunter," Colleen said happily.

Hunter looked at Master. "Thank you, Master. You have no ida now much that means to Colleen and me."

"Believe he, Hunter, Collen, you two will never have to worry about leaving this team. Just think of these few weeks as kind of a vacation until the tibe is ready. I'll summon the both of you once it is. Now," Master said. "I do believe we have a wedding reception to attend!" Master gestured back to Headquarters. Hunter hung back and gave Colleen a passionate kiss.

"We're staying, Colleen!' HUnter whispered, almost as if he couldn't believe it. "We're staying! Oh, Colleen, this night could NOT be any better! " He gave her a huge kiss. "I'm married to the most wonderful, most beautiful dog in the entire world, and we both get to stay Road Rovers! I think I hav to be the luckiest dog in the ENTIOREE world!"  
"I'm lucky as well," Colleen agreed. "Oh, Huntie, I just lov you so much!"

"I love you, too, Colleen." He took her into his arms and kissed her on the top of her head. For a while they just held each other, listening to the water lapping on the shore, thinking about how blessed they were. This was ONE night nether one of them would forget as they made their way back to the party.


	20. Bright Love Shines, Darkness Comes

When they finally came back to Headquarters the music started again. Blitz slowly and carefully approached Colleen, clearing his throat. "Hello, Colleen," Blitz said carefully. "I was wondering….can I have the honor of dancing with…a friend?"

Colleen smiled. "Sure, Blitz. " She and Blitz went to the middle of the floor. Blitz put one arm around Colleen's waist, making sure he staid a good distance away. They swayed to the music, Colleen smiling in a reassuring way. "Thank you again, Blitz, for all you did for Huntie and me. We're never gonna forget this day!"

Blitz smiled. "Well, it wasn't just me, it was Exile too. We wanted this day to be the most romantic day of your life."

"It was. Thank you, Blitz. You know, when you're being yourself like this, you are a good friend."

Blitz put up one of his hands. "JUST friends!. That's all, I promise."

Meanwhile Hunter was dancing with his mother. "Honey, I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks, Mom."

"And even though you're married now, in my eyes you'll always be my little boy…and I love you very much."

"I love you, too, Mom."

Starbright looked serious. "Hunter..Honey..you know what happened when you were 8 weeks old...I want you to know that really wasn't my fault at all. I mean..God I still remember the day you were born. You were my sweet pride and joy, and I was so proud of you even then! I remember taking you to the little woods in the back of the farm, you were such a happy puppy." Her eyes filled with tears. "I'll never forget that day..and to this moment I'll NEVER forgive that Farmer for taking you away from me. All his talk about not being able to afford two dogs, and without warning my baby was taken from me and given to two strangers. I barked, I tried to nip them, I tried to fight…but next thing I knew, you were gone. Believe me, Sweetheart, there was never a day I didn't think of you. I was always wondering what happened to you, if you were taken care of, getting enough to eat." she wrapped her arm around his neck. "And I'm so happy I got my answer! Believe me, Dear, if I could walk and talk like I'm doing now, I never would have let that farmer take you away!"

'It's alright, Mom," Hunter said smiling. "I'm not mad at you. I understand it wasn't your fault. Believe me, I never forgot you Mom. Why do you think I spent all that time trying to track you down?" Starbright smiled, happier than she had ever been , and definitely feeling super lucky herself. After all, she had finally been reunited with hr son..and now she had a daughter!

She glanced over at Colleen dancing with Blitz, and she danced Hunter over to them. "Excuse me?" she asked. "May we cut in?"

Blitz smiled. "Ja, ja," he said, taking Starbright's hand while Hunter took Colleen's.

"You sure know how to throw a party, Blitz," Starbright said.

"Well, in Germany my owner has been known to throw a lot of great get togethers.." Blitz said.

"Really?"

"Ja, ja. I remember one time…"

A little while later Master tapped Hunter on the shoulder and smiled. "Excuse me? May I have the honor of dancing with the bride?" Hunter smiled and nodded as Master began to dance with Colleen. "I must say, Colleen, you look lovely in that dress."

"Thanks, Master," Colleen said politely. "But don't get used to it. This might be the ONLY time you'll ever see me in a bloomin' dress!" she laughed. "Always been more comfortable in our uniforms meself."

"Well, you look very lovely tonight." Master said. "But I must admit Exile, Shag, and Blitz truly outdid themselves. The dinner and cake were delicious and the Headquarters looks great."

"I'm glad you're not too mad at us, Master."

"No, not at all. I'm quite happy for the two of you. I kind of had a feeling something like this might just happen for you both. But I am glad it finally did. I hope you two are very happy together. You both deserve it."

"Thank you, aster," Colleen said, hugging him tightly. As the song ended Master went over to the food table where Mrs. Blair was helping herself to some more of the food. "Well," Master said. "I hope you're enjoying yourself very much."

"Oh yes, quite," she smiled. But Master couldn't help but notice several tears in her eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"Truth be known…I hate the fact Colleen must leave.." she sighed. 'But, this is her decision. How can I say no if this is what she wants to do? That would be the cruelest thing I could possibly do to her! "

Master put his hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. I'll personally see to it that she comes back for many visits."

"Thank you," she smiled and gazed over to where Hunter and Colleen were dancing a slow, romantic dance, gazing onto one another's eyes. "You know, I'm surprised Colleen got married. She always struck me as so independent. I hope Hunter can appreciate that."

"He can," Master said, looking at them. "It's pretty obvious he loves her and she loves him."

Starbright came over then. She smiled, "This has been quite a night." She shook Master's hand. 'Thank you for taking such good care of my boy. That means a lot to me!"

"It's my pleasure." Master smiled. Exile tapped Starbright on the shoulder.

"Would you are to dance, Comrade Starbright?"

"Sure!."

Master smiled at Cherie. "Would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to."

'

"Well, this has been a wonderful night," Persia said as the Space Rovers were getting ready to leave. She smiled at Blitz. "Thank you so much for inviting us."

"It was my pleasure. Thank you for coming."

"I would not miss this!" she smiled.

"So..maybe I'll look you up the next time you come back to Earth?"

"I will definitely look YOU up, Blitz," Persia smiled. "But, it might be before that." She reached over and kissed his cheek. Blitz looked surprised and pleased at this.  
"I'll try to fly your way more often."

"Please do," Persia smiled before she boarded the spaceship.

The spaceship landed near the Clinton's place, being careful not to wake them up. Huntr and Colleen left the ship, in dog forms. Hunter nuzzled his Mom (also in dog form). 'Bye, Mom." He barked. "Thank you for coming tonight."

"Thank you for having me, Son," Starbright barked. "I love you, Hunter."

"I love you, too, Mom."

Starbright moved over to Colleen and nuzzled her. "And I love you, too, Colleen."

"I love you, Starbright."  
"Take care of each other, and be there for one another always."

"We will, Mom. Bye, Mom."

"Bye, Dear. You be happy. " she smiled as Hunter and Colleen barked and made their way to the house. Bill came out just then and began to pet them. Starbright smiled. "Bye, Mr. Clinton. Thanks for taking care of my boy!"

That morning a mysterious woman with jet black hair dressed in blu overalls and a blue hat came into the White House. "Good Morning, Mr. Clinton," she spoke in a heavy Scottish accent. "I'm the house painter, the one you hired yesterday?"

"Oh yeah, come on in. We want to make sure the outside of the house is nice and pretty for when Bush moves in."

'Ah yes, one more month to go, and you gotta move."

"Yep," Clinton looked around. I gotta admit, I'm gonna miss this place. Had SUCH crazy times here."

"So the guidebooks tell us," the painter muttered under her breath. But out of the corner of her eye she noticed Hunter and Colleen playing by the side of the House. She tried to make herself scarce as she was painting, so as not to be seen. But Bill noticed her stars.

"Yeah, you et the newest member of our family" he laughed. "That's Colleen. She's Hunter's wife."

"Wife?!

"Yeah, ya know, wife, mate, whatever ya call it. Aren't they cute. She just followed her little boyfriend home one day…and I guess they made it official!" He laughed. "I bet they're gonna love Arkansas!"

'You're moving to Arkansas?!"

"Well, we're actually moving to New York so Hil can run for Sanator, but that's where Hunter and Colleen will stay and we'll go there in the summer and our spare time. Quite nice huh?"

"Them in Arkansas…very nice indeed!" she said, grinning evilly.


	21. Temporary Goodbye

"You're absolutely positive that's what he said, Groomer?"

"Loud and clear and right in front of me, General," Groomer said. "I don't know how she ended up here in America, but she did, and she's married to Clinton's pet. Which basically means wherever he goes, she goes too…and that means they're BOTH on their way to Arkansas!"

"I did 't think those creatures COULD get married!" Parvo mused.

"Apparently they can!" Groomer said.

"So, they marry and live together, huh?

"Apparently they do!"

Parvo then started laughing evilly. "Goody! Ha,ha,ha. Lady Luck has FINALLY smiled down upon us, Groomer! All we have to do it wait until the Clintons leave for Arkansas, and those two mongrels are PERMANENTLY out of here…and than we commence with our global plan!"

"Oh, Parvo, when I hear ya talk like that it just sets me going!" Groomer said, cuddling up to him.

Parvo smiled and put his arm around her. "Just think, my pet. Soon all our worries will be gone. The remaining three…hell, all we have to worry about is that Huskey..but nothing a good bob to the back of his head can't do. The Sheepdog..we'll stuff a mattress with! The Doberman, who's just a big baby. …we'll string him up and use him for a bee hive!"

"That won't be too hard!" Groomer said.

"Yes, we all know that the Leader and the Second..oh excuse me, his WIFE!" he gagged at that word. "Were no doubt or two biggest obstacles. While the newlyweds are living happily-ever-after in a faraway kennel in Arkansas, we'll get the biggest, most powerful military weapons on earth! And I can honestly say NO ONE can stop us!!" He grinned slyly.

"Happy New Year, General!" Groomer said.

"Happy New Year to you, Groomer!"

Bill and Hilary were finishing packing the last of their suitcases. The very next day a van was gonna come and start loading their stuff. Some of it would go to their home in Arkansas, a lot of Hilary's stuff to Chappaqua. Bill looked around a bit sadly. "Tell ya, Hil, I'm really gonna miss this place!"  
"Well, hopefully we'll be coming back to it real soon."  
"Not as soon as I'd like to," Bill answered. "I know Hunter feels the same way. "

"Well, a change to scenery will do him good, now that he has a wife!" Hilary said. "Did we finish cleaning out the doghouse yet?"  
"I think so."  
Hunter and Colleen were standing near the doorway, listening to their Master's conversation. Quickly they raced out and ran to the bush where the hidden stone was. They went down the tube, slid into the vehicle, and went to Headquarters where they transdogmified themselves. They went into the main room. Hunter smiled at Colleen sadly. "Well," he said. "It's time."  
"I know."  
"Yeah, they're almost finished. Tomorrow we leave for Arkansas."  
Colleen took a shaky breath. Hunter held her close and looked around Headquarters. "I'm really gonna miss this so much."  
"I am too, Huntie," she said, quietly raising her face to his and kissing him. A long, deep, meaningful kiss, knowing full well that when they became normal dogs until the tunnel was done, they would only be able to lick each other. Throwing their arms around one another, they held each other close and kissed again and again. Finally Hunter swept his wife into his arms, and carried her into his bedroom...

A little while later, they finally emerged from the room. There Exile, Blitz, Shag, and Muzzle had gathered silently, each one holding back tears, not being able to believe what was happening. Hunter cleared his throat. "Well,guys...guess..it's time.." he checked his watch. 'yeah, it's getting late, and they're gonna wonder where we are…so.."  
"Yeah.."Exile said quickly.  
"Guess..this is it.." Hunter and Colleen slowly walked around to their friends. "Blitz..' Blitz stood up.  
"Ya...well.." he tried to talk without getting too choked up. he held out his hand. 'You..you were a great leader. I'm gonna miss you.." Hunter took the hand and then pulled him into a hug.  
"Hey, take care of yourself until we get back," Hunter said quietly.  
"Ya..you too." he mentioned in a whisper. "Take care of Colleen..she's a special lady."  
"I will," Hunter promised. "There's no one else like her."  
Colleen went to Blitz. Blitz held out his paw for her to shake. 'Goodbye, Colleen. Take care of Hunter. he's one of a kind."  
"I will," she said. She quickly gave him a quick hug, surprising him. "Goodbye, Blitz. Take care."  
Hunter then went to Muzzle..who was whining sadly. He petted the top of his head. "Hey..it's alright, pal. We'll be OK. We're only gonna be gone a while. Muzz.." he reached over and hugged him. "Be really good, OK. Listen to Master. Remember, don't go all crazy unless you're released. And do whatever Exile says..OK." Muzzle wined sadly. 'I'm gonna miss you too. See ya, Buddy."  
Colleen went to Muzzle and petted him. "Be a good boy, I...I know it isn't nice..but I'm gonna miss how you used to cause such chaos when you were released. Take care of yourself, and remember how usefull you are to us." She whped his teary eyes. 'Oh, don't cry.." but she began to break down. "You'll rust your mask so dreadfully..." she gave him a small kiss. "Goodbye.' he hopped into her arms and she gave him a hug. They then moved to Shag, who was blowing his nose.  
'Ry Rate roodryes!"  
"I know you hate them, Buddy..I do too," Hunter said. "We're gonna miss your cooking so much. No White House can hold a candle to you!" Shag then pulled out of his fur a lot of plastic containers filled to the brim with all sorts of food. "For us? hey, thanks!"  
"Rou're relcome!"  
"Remember, Shag..you're a lot braver than people give you credit for. Don't forget that! Don't forget to turn it around when you fire missles. Always tell yourself you can do things..and you'll be able to." he hugged Shag tightly, who picked him up and licked his cheek. "Goodbye, Shag."  
Colleen came over. "Thanks for the food, Shag. Don't forget to always be there for them team. You're such a great bloke, don't stop believeing that! We're gonna miss you." Shag picked her up and hugged her. Colleen kissed his cheek. 'Goodbye. See you later"  
They finally came to Exile who was wailing in his hankerchief. "Goodbyes are murder on me!" he blew his nose loudly. "Oh, Comrades, what can I say? I will miss you both so much!"  
"We will too," Hunter said. he cleared his throat before he got too choked up. "We're only gonna be gone a while. Then we'll be back." Colleen removed her red collar and Hunter took off his. They both gave them to Exile.  
"What for is that?"  
"Exile…as the Former Leader and second-In-Command of the Road Rovers...we hereby make you the new Leader."  
"Me?"  
"Yes. We've talked it over. You're the one we trust the most and no doubt the bravest and smartest. We trust you more than anyone with this."  
Exile stood for a moment and stared at the collars, too overcome to speak. "Comerades...I thank you. This is great Honor. I will not let you down!" He started to cry again. "Oh, Comerades, you both I will miss so!" he grabbed Hunter in a hug so tight he couldn't breathe.  
"Ugh..we'll miss you as well," Hunter said. "We'll see you."  
"Goodbye, Hunter." Colleen then came over.  
"Thank you for honor, Comedrade Colleen. I will not let you down."  
"I know you won't, Exile," Colleen said. "You lead this team with the grace and kindness you've always shown. We believe in you." She hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Goodbye." Exile started crying all over again. Slowly Hunter and Colleen joined hands and went to the Transdogmafier. They stopped and looked back at the remaining Rovers. All the dogs they loved..all the friends they were about to leave for a while. Master and Hubert than appeared.

"Is it time already?" Hubert asked.

"Yeah…the Clintons are almost packed up. We leave tomorrow."

Hubert walked over to them "Well.." he said. "What can I say?"

"Yeah," Hunter said,

"But….this is NIOT goodbye. I mean, you're coming back, as soon as the tunnel is built. Thank you again for giving us the pictures,. It's a big help."

"Thanks," Hunter shook his hand, Colleen gave him a small hug.

Hunter turned to Master. "Master…Colleen and I want to thank you so much. Thank you for the honor of being Road Rovers..thank you for letting us find each other….thank you..thank you all for so many years of adventure..and unforgettable moments." Mastr smiled.

"Thank you, Hunter, Colleen. Thank you for all you did and all I know you will do. Just think of this as a vacation. Enjoy yourselves. You both deserve it."

Exile said. "God go with you both, always."  
Hunter and Colleen looked at each other. He pulled her into his arms in one final embrace and kiss as Cano-Sapiens. "I love you," he whispered.  
"I love you," she answered. She looked up. "Thank you for everything!"

"We love you," Hunter said. " Slowly they let go of one another...and stepped into the Transdogmifiers. Hunter poked his head out.  
' You'll always be our brothers...all of you. Always!" he said with tears in his eyes. He looked at his wife. "Ready?"  
She nodded. 'Ready." They stepped inside as the doors filled with smoke..turning them into dogs. They lept into Hunter's dog-mobile and gave one final bark.  
"Goodbye Comrades! God be with you! Godspeed!" Exile, Blitz, and Shag said as it sped out of sight. For a time they just stared at where it was.  
'Good bye...good...bye..."Exile said before breaking down. the 4 remaining Rovers sobbed and held each other, hoping for the next month they could hold the team together.


	22. Parvo and Groomer

"There they go, General," Groomer said as they were sitting on a faraway hill watching the last of the vans pull out of the White House with the Clintons things though their binoculars. They were especially interested in seeing Hunter and Colleen being loaded onto dog carriers to be taken off to the airport and to Arkansas. She gave an exaggerated wave with her gloved hand. "Bye, bye, now. Hasta Minyana!"  
"Yeah, bye bye and good riddence!" Parvo said. "Those two main troublemakers won't be causing us any more trouble, I don't think! Yeah, go off now. Go settle in your new home. Have puppies, have a great life. We know WE will!" He grinned at Groomer. Just think now, Dear. With THOSE two thankfully gone we'll practically have the entire world sitting right at our feet!"

"Oh, Parvo, da ya really think this is gonna work this time?":

"Who's gonna stop us?!" Parvo said. "All we have to worry about is that Husky! He can freeze and heat things with his eyes. But nothing a good bop on the head won't cure. As for that cowardly huskey, we'll us him as a blanket! That Doberman, he'll be fin to lay around with,. After all, he thinks he's God's gift to the world! Well, we'll se about that when we send him screaming!" He and Groomer laughed. "Hee..hee..hack, cough..LOZENGE!" Groomer took her launcher and sent a cherry lozenge into his mouth. "Ahh..thank you. Now, you remember what to do. As soon as we know those mutts are gone we can begin our sneak into the military base. We Cano-Mutate as many dogs as we can find to help us. Soon once they're all ready we begin our attack. We take over the Pentagon, and the Senate, and the Hous, finishing by claiming the White House! Remember, we're gonna be loaded with the most expensive and costly weapons. So make sure you us them. Shoot anything and everyone that moves, we leave no witnesses. Anyone tries to give you any lip cut off their tounge and kill them, understand?"

"Yes, General. "

"Fro the Whit4 House we move on to any and all the Leaders of the world.."Parvo laughed. 'And the only thing standing in our way? A ice-shooting Huskey! This is going to be MOST pleasant!"

Groomer nodded. She Didn't mind Exile too much,. After all, the only serious hits she had gotten from the Rovers were the kicks she had gotten from Colleen and the way her Egyptian pyramid had tumbled down due to Hunter's blaster. With THEM away permanently they could just sweep in and take over the world and there would b no one to stop them at all! Her ears then pricked up when she heard two aids from the White House talking.

Well, they're gone."

"Who would have thought. Man, those years kind of flew by.

"I think it was because of Hunter." on of the Aides said. "That dog could put a smile on anyone's face, hands down!"

"Yeah, and that collie he bright home was cute too. Man, I'm, really gonna miss those dogs."

Groomer smiled at Parvo. 'I'm not!" she grinned.


	23. Without Hunter, Without Colleen

A little more than a month later Exile, Shag, Blitz, and Muzzle were gathered in the Main Room of Headquarters, around the table. Exile sighed as he glanced at two empty chairs next to him. Apparently the tube wasn't fully built yet at the Clinton's Arkansas home. He sighed and exchanged a sad look at Blitz. They had missed their friends so much. It was so empty and so quiet in the Headquarters without their teasing and their attempts to cheer people up. Blitz, Shag, and Exile found themselves spending less and less time there. Even though Exile was thrilled to be the new Leader he was shaking all over and praying every night that he would NOT asked to lead a team in new missions. But soon, the time had come. Master appeared on the balcony.

"Rovers," he began. "This mission is, and more than likely will be, your most dangerous assignment yet."

Blitz gasped "Dangerous?! Master, with all due respect can't you wait until after the tube is built?"

"No," Master said. "I don't want you to panic, Blitz. With teamwork know you can all do this." The big screen behind the Master then lightened up. "We have reports that Parvo and Groomer were spotted at this top secret military base attempting to steal highly powerfull weapons."

'Bulshoi!" Exile said.

"What kind of weapons, Master?"

"They're very rare, I think these are several of the untested ones. But these powerful weapons are the more valuable thing the military can have! They are extremely dangerous if given to the wrong people, and Grooer and Parvo are definitely the wrong kid of people. Rovers, get to that military base and stop Parvo and Groomer!"

'Yes, Sir!" But Exile and Blitz exchanged an 'Oh God' look on their faces. This was the very first mission without Hunter or Colleen, A part of Exile agreed with Blitz. Master SHOULD have waited till the tube was finished. "Oh, God," he silently prayed,. "please say I can do this! This is my first time as Leader..please help me!"

A little while later the Sky Rover was flying through the clouds. Blitz looked at his hand, which were folded nervously in frotn of hi. I don't know about this, Exile," he admitted.

"You and me both, Comrade," Exile agreed. "I've never been Leader of anything before…I don't know if I can really do it."

Blitz glanced backward and gave a high pitched scram. "Exile, you better give it a try right now! We have bad humans behind us, bad, bad humans! " Exile glancd backward and saw a huge amount of dark jets flying toward them firing all kinds of missles.

"Bulshoi! What are they doing besides Russian me around!" He steered the plane and tilted it up. Dodging bullets like crazy Exile racked his brain. _"What would Comrade Hunter do?! What WOULD Hunter do?!" _He straightened the plan and took a deep breath when it looked like h had avoided the planes. But to their surprise mor lanes showd u right in FRONT of them! Thankfully, Exile could see they were right at their goal. He turnd to Blitz. "Comrade, Bail!"

"Wha?"  
"BAIL, BAIL NOW!!" Blitz grabbed a parachute, Shag fastioned one on Muzzle and got on himself. They all bailed out one at a time while Exile tried despirately to land the plane. Finally he managed to land the plane shakily as the enemies flew off. Taking a deep breath, he got out of the plane. They all made their way over to the military base where the Master said Parvo and Groomer were spotted.

"How do we get in?" Blitz said.

"Quit Russian me, I'm thinking.." he put his hand on his paw and started, thinking of what he could do. But just then he heard the unmistakable sound of Parvo's Cano Mutants coming right toward them Blitz turned around and gave his girl scream. Exile turnd around jus then and quickly used his ice star at the Cano Mutants, freezing them in their tracks. But soon more mutants came out of what seemed like the ground, pointing huge gigantic guns right in their path.

"Let the biting begin!" Blitz said coming toward them and biting the gun in half, scaring one Mutant away. But two or immediately surrounded him. Blitz stretched out his claws, but more came right behind him and grabbed him around the waist, lifting him in the air. Blitz screamed. "NOOOO…noo. Please put me down! Put me down! Oh, Please let e go!!' But the Mutant wouldn't stop until he cam to a shallow pond nar the base…and threw Blitz face first into it, then whipping his hands and leaving him. Blitz had to swim back and shake the excess water off. Mumbling he started making his way back to the base,.

Meanwhile Exile ad his way over to the back of the base, followed by Shag, who was pushing Muzzle. Shag whimpered and shook. Exile looked behind him. 'Calm down, Comrade!" Shag trembled and shook even fiercer and pointed behind him, barking and whimpering. "Comrade, what are you saying? Shag, I really can't understand you!" Shag kept pointing, Exile squinted. "Sorry, Shag, I can't see, this sun is too bright. We have to keep trying to see if there is way to get in." Shag whimpered louder. "Shag, calm down, I don't know what you're saying!" Just then two more Mutants flew right toward them on hover cycles, nearly decapitating them in the process. Exile, Shag, and Muzzle hit the dirt just in time. "Uh..Shag…were you trying to tell e about bad guys on hover cycles?" Shag nodded angrily. "Sorry, Shag." He stood up ad they continued their way to the back. He was relieved to find there WAS a back entrance…until they saw more sentries standing guard. Shag whimpered. "Easy, Comrade, I give the chill." H froze the guards and then h and Shag went to the entrance. "OK, Shag, do your thing." Shag stretched and used his strength to pry the door open. "Nice work, Comrade." Grabbing Muzzle, they made their way inside."

Yoo-Hoo!" Blitz said, running in to join them.

"Blitz..why are you all wet?"  
"Don't ask," he said.

Exile looked around. "OK, Comrades. Now, what I think we do is…" he stopped to think. "Is..is..uh.."

"Come on, come on, those monsters could be coming any minute!"

"Quite Russian me!" Exile said. 'I have to think!" _"Bolshoi, what DO I do now?!" _Exile thought.

But he didn't have too long to wait. Soon a terrible sight met their eyes. Unconscious guards were lined up along the floor, making almost a human collection just so they could see it. Blitz sc reamed at this sight.

"Oh God, Exile, let's get out of here while we still have our tushies!"

"No, Comrade. We have mission to get done. Hunter wouldn't leave a mission here unfinished."

'But we're not Hunter, and Hunter would b disgusted to see this as well."

"Maybe so, but HE wouldn't leave." Exile thought again. "OK, Comrades, w go down the hallway, but we stay together. God only knows what Parvo and Groomer have in mind..or even where they are now!" They made their way down the hall…only to be stopped by more Cano Mutants. Shag screamed and lept into Exile's arms.

"So," came a familiar voice. "I was wondering what kept you!" The menacing form of Parvo and Groomer came into view. "Well, well, well, trying to do this without your precious leaders, huh? Oh, ho, this will be almost too easy!"

"Ac do lebra…RUN!!!"


	24. We Need Them

Hunter and Colleen, meanwhile, were sitting on the top of one of the hills in their Arkansas backyard. The sun was beginning to set, turning the sky a beautiful shade of pink and purple. Hunter leaned against Colleen. Colleen smiled happily at Hunter. "This is so beautiful, Love." She barked at him.

"I thought you might like it," Hunter barked in reply. He put his arm around her back. "Colleen?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you happy here with me?"

"So happy, Huntie-Wuntie," Colleen said, laying her paw on his. "You can't get a wonderful view like this in London, believe me you don't. Certainly not in me own doghouse back there. Doghouse was behind a huge fence. Couldn't see a wonderful view like this back there." Hunter smiled and licked her cheek happily.

"It seems kind of strange to be normal dogs, isn't it?" He smiled.

"In a way," Colleen agreed. 'It does take some getting used to."

"Yeah,. Ya know when Mr. Clinton was playing that slow music on his radio yesterday, I wanted so badly to take you in my arms and dance with you.." he laughed a bit. "can't do that for a while."

"Won't be for much longer, Love. Master just has to finish installing the tube." She snuggled against him. "Let's just enjoy being together."

Hunter grinned happily. "I enjoy every single minute I'm with you, Colleen." He then stopped and sniffed the air. "Suppertime! Care to race down the hill?"

"I'd love to, Huntie." When they reached the bottom they went to their doghouse where the cook was bringing out a huge plate of spagetti.

"Here you go," he smiled at them. 'Mr Clinton wanted some spagetti for dinner so I figured I'd make some extra for you! Enjoy it."

Huntr and Colleen smiled at the coincidence of it all. Hunter put his arm around her. "I promised you a bella notte of our own, and here it is!"

Colleen grinned and stared at the night. "Oh, Huntie, this couldn't be any more perfect."

Hunter grinned. "You think if we nibble carefully we might be able to end up with the exact same noodle?"

Colleen smiled. "Only one way to find out, love."

Hunter pushed the biggest meatball toward her the exact way The Tramp did in the movie. "For you, Colleen. I love you."

"I love you, too, Huntie," Colleen said, licking his cheek. "Let's try to find that same noodle!"

Meanwhile states away Blitz, Exile, Shag, and Muzzle found themselves surrounded by Cano Mutants. They all sped away in different directions. Blitz found himself in dark corner. "Let the biting begin!" He said as he proceeded to bite the biggest gun from the Cano Mutant nearest him. He then went to another gun and proceeded to rip it to shreads,. The Mutants screamed and started to run. "Yah, run puppy boys! Papa Blizy is out to get you!" But when they turned a corner they came face to face with over ten ore Cano Mutants, who proceeded to pick Blitz up over their heads. "Oh, Not AGAIN!! I was just joking with you!!"

"Blitz," Exile cried. "Let him go!" Using his ice blast, he froze all of them in their tracks. Blitz ran to xil.

"Oh, thank you, Exile.."

"DON'T even think about it!"

"Well, I wouldn';t!"

Shag was busy crutched behind a table, wining helplessly. Exile came over. "Comerade, you OK?"

"Rah."

"Wait, where's Muzzle?" Shag looked around him and was horrified to discover that Muzzle';s cart was missing.

"Ruh Roh!"  
Blitz came over just then. 'This isn't working! There are only four of us, and Muzzle's in a cart. We can't watch in all directions at once! We NEED at least one ore pair of eyes!"

'I'm afraid we don't even have that! We can't find Muzzle!"

Meanwhile Groomer and two of the biggest Cano Mutants snuck into the main room where they knew the weapons were kept and proceeded to load up the biggest ones into the sacks they had brought with them. Ravo was SO RIGHT, with all the chaos and th fact that there were only four of the now it wad so asy to create a distraction big enough so that they could take the weapons unnoticed. After filling up all three sacks Groomer handed hers to the biggest Mutant. "Her, take these to Parvo and bring back some more sacks. And hurry!" The Mutant carried the sacks to Parvo. Hs metal arm made it possible to lift the sacks like they were straw and load them onto his truck. Just then another Mutant came over carrying Muzzle. Parvo grinned horribly. "Ah, the Rotweiller! How perfect! I know JUST the place for him!" H took the cart and locked it in a spar room. "There. That's done. One down, three more to go! "

Meanwhile Master was watching fro his Headquarters along with Hubert. Hubert turned toward Master. "This is bad." he said simply."

"Yes," He agreed. "I honestly thought four dogs could do it."

"Not when there are at least 100 of Cano Mutants. We Need more eyes and a lot more fighting style!" Master nodded, he know what he meant.

'But the tube isn't ready yet!


	25. Come Back!

"Master? How much of the tube do you have done so far?"

"Well, it's pretty much done, but it hasn't been tested yet!"

"Master…I think it HAS to be, right NOW!"  
"That's way too dangerous, Professor. We don't know if the tube is stable yet. It could break somewhere in the middle of nowhere! Hunter and Colleen could be lost and we wouldn't be able to trace them. Or the vehicle could get stuck in the tube. We have to test everything to make absolutely sure. I don't think it's safe to send for them now."

"W HAVE to, Master! I think it's very obvious that Hunter and Colleen are needed despirately! We can't win this without them!"

"I agree, but I don't know if it's really safe to just send for them without proper testing of the tube."

Hubert turned on the communicators. "I'd feel a heck of a lot better if you did it now!"

Master nervously turned on the communication device and set it for Arkansas.

Hunter and Colleen were sitting in the main living room with Bill and Hilary as they watched an old movie. Hunter was sitting near Bill's feet, and Colleen was near Hilary's. Bill looked over and grinned. "Tell the truth, Hil, you DO like having a dog for your own to pet don't ya?"

"Well." Hilary smiled and reached over to stroke the top of Colleen's head. "I'll admit, it IS nice to not wait my turn to pet a dog now that I can pet the other. "

"See, she ain't too much trouble, right?"

'Yeah..I admit, I do like having her around. She's actually very quiet….and she is kinda cute."

"Yep," Bill petted Hunter's dad. "Hunter, boy, she's a keeper!" Hunter parked happily as the doorbell rang. "Who could that be?" Bill asked, getting up. Soon he came in the room followed by Al and Tipper.

"Hy, Al," Hilary said, getting up as Hunter and Colleen moved to the doorway.

"Hey, Hilary. We came to say hi,: Al said. He noticed the dogs. "Hey, Hunter. Who ya got here, new friend?  
Bill laughed. "Try the newest member of our family, his little doggie wife, Al."

"This is Hunter's WIFE?!"  
"Wife, mate, doggie girlfriend, significant other, whatever ya wanna call her! That's Colleen. Ain't she cute?"

"Oh yes," Al said, shaking her paw. "Well, how do you do?" Colleen barked and Hunter barked. "Oh yes, yes I agree, Hunter. She's lovely. A real finder, congratulations!"

A little while later Bill had asked Al and Tipper to dinner. Afterward Bill put on some music and they all started to dance around the room. The romantic song made Hunter and Colleen smile. Hunter put his arm around Colleen's back as they swayed a bit to the song. Hunter once again longed to dance with his beloved wife and wished they were on two legs so they could. He slowly pulled Colleen closer to him and licked her cheek tenderly. Colleen leaned against Hunter and licked his cheek. They looked meaningfully at one another, reading one another's minds.'

"Let's go back to the doghouse, Colleen," Hunter barked to her. Colleen smiled, knowing what he was really saying. They got up, going through the doggie door and quickly making their way there when a familiar light shone down upon them, at once surprising and delighting them.

"Hunter? Colleen?"

"Master!" They both barked.

"Report to Headquarters, you two are despirately needed, immediately!"

"Is the tube done, Master?"  
"Yes, and you both are needed. Please come quick, I'll tell you where it is.."

Meanwhile Blitz was starting to panic. "The Master is going to turn us inside out for this! Where is Muzzle?"

"We can't panic, Comrade, we just have to look for him!" Exile helped Shag up. "Shag, where did you last see Muzzle?"

Shag stood up and pointed to his right. "OK, well, we go to the right then. We try to listen to our Comrade. He couldn't have been taken too far. "Thy all began to slowly march in the direction Shag pointed out to them. They looked around and all over, knowing that any minute now more Cano Mutants could come from out of nowhere and attack them. They heard a starching and mumbling coming from a nearby door. "Muzzle?" Exile asked. "Stand back, I melt the lock on the door.

"I don't think so, " came the familiar disgusting voice of Parvo. Soon Parvo, Groomer, and more Mutants came running over and racially surrounded the on all sides. "You think after our last enounter with that rabid mongrel we didn't learn our lesson by now? You're not opning that door!

"Says who, Mtalhead?" Blitz said, taking out his tushie-biting bouquet. But before he could pull the trigger one of the Mutants picked him up and flung him against the wall "Ooohh….yes, Lassie IS my favorite movie..how did you know?' Before he passed out upon the floor.

"Blitz!" Exile said,. He looked at all the Mutants and tried to us his freeze ray, but after he took out only two or three Parvo gave a signal and the Mutants started to scatter. Exile tried to follow all of them, but found he couldn't do it alone. Shag had gone under a table. 'Shag! Shag, hel!"

"Get him, grab him, everybody get him! " Parvo ordred as the Mutants all picked Exile up and held him over their heads. "So…Mr. Leader-Of-The-Pack," he began with his arms folded across his chest. "It looks like you're outnumbered now, huh?"

"Yeah, well," came an all-too-familiar voice as two figured came through the crowd. "The odds JUST got a little better!"


	26. Return of the Rovers

"Why am I having a funny feeling of deja-vu?" Parvo asked suddenly before turning around slowly and coming face to face with…Hunter and Colleen. Both staring at him fiercely. "No..but..how…you two were going to Arkansas….how puzzling.."

"Not puzzling, Parvo, just a little mini-vacation…but for you THE PARTY'S OVER!"

"Don't be so sure, Rovers!" He turned to the Mutants. "Soldiers..sick them!" Immidiately the Cano Mutants dropped Exile and began going after Hunter and Colleen while Parvo raced off back to his truck. Hunter grabbed his tennis ball shooters and shot a few gas covered balls right into the midst of the Mutants, knocking them out old. Some more Mutants approached him from all angles. Using his super speed h raced off right through them. Thy didn't even know what had haened.

"Soldirs!" Groomer ried out. 'Don't stand there, idiots!"

"HIYA! TOM SELLECK!! BRIITNEY SPEARS!! RONALD REGAN!!" Colleen cried, executing kick and massive punch upon the Mutants that approached her,, showing none of them any mercy at all! In less than a few minutes she had knocked them all out and Exile froze them. H then paused to crush her in a hug hug. "Comrade Colleen, welcome back! You did not know how badly we needed you!!' 

"Uh, thanks, Exile.."Colleen gasped. "Now..PLEASE put me down!"

"Oh, sorry," he set her down…just in time for Shag to hug her!

"Move it, move it!" Groomer said as she and the Cano Mutants all chased off where they had been certain Hunter had run off to. They came upon the place where the single hall split into two. 'Ok, let's split up'." She pointed to her left. "Half of you go this way," she pointed to her right. 'And half of you go that way!" They took off. Hunter than jumped out of his hiding place behind a pillar and raced off to join his friends. He picked Blitz up off the floor as he was just coming around.

"Hey, you all right there, Blitz?"  
"Ja, ja…just had the wind knocked out of me there, Hunter.." but then he stopped in his tracks and stared at him. 'H…H..Hunter? Hunter..you mean you're back?!" Hunter nodded his had happily. "You both are back for good?" He then cheered and hugged him. "Thank God you both came! Thank you, thank you. I'll never be mean to either one of you ever again!!"' 

"Maybe we should get that in writing," Colleen whispered to Hunter. Hunter smiled at her and helped Blitz up. "OK, Rovers, here's the plan…"But he was interrupted by a loud scratching noise behind the door. Exile melted the lock on the door…and Muzzle happily hopped out. "Muzzle! How'd you get there?"

"It's a long story, Hunter," Blitz said quickly. 'But Parvo and Groomer are getting away with the weapons!"

Hunter sniffed the air. "Yeah..and he's close. OK, Colleen, Shag, you're with me. We'll go after Groomer and her minions. Exile,. Blitz, take Muzzle and go after Parvo. Don't stop until he's surrendered the weapons."

"Rightski!"  
"Let's hit it, Rovers!" Filled with joy at the familiar phrase of their reunited Leader, all the Rovers gave a group howl and proceeded to take off.

"I can't WAIT to fix those two mongrels!" Groomer said. "Son of a gun…thought they were gone for good, they were!! Can't get away from those damn fleabags!!"

"Hey, that's Mr. And Mrs. Fleabag to you, Groomer!" Hunter said as he, Colleen, and Shag apard diretly in front of her, causing her to silently curs.

"Didn't ya Mum ever tell you it wasn't polite to curse?" Colleen asked, coming forward.

"Why can't ya find other people to bug?!"

"Oh, you're our favorite!" Hunter said.

"Soliders, attack!" As the Cano Mutants began to run toward them, Colleen stepped forward.

"JENNIFER LOPEZ! MADONNA! SWARTZINAGGER!" Colleen said, delivering kick after kick, while Hunter lead the others in a wild chase all around the room, tiring them all out. He finally came to a stop in front of Colleen,. Who with a final "JIMMY C ARTER!" Kicked them onto the floor. Hunter high-fived his wife and pulled her into a hug.

"We really do make a great team!" Hunter said.

"Rah!" Shag said from his hiding place. They looked around for Groomer.

"Where did that crackpot get off to?"

Hunter sniffed the air. "That way," he pointed to the left and they raced off quickly. Soon they were able to catch up to Groomer. "Shag, get the launcher!" Hunter said. Shag quickly pulled it out of his fur and aimed it. "No, turn it around!" Shag turned his whole body around and shot the launched into the wall, causing rocks from the celeing to fall on the exit, blocking the way out. "All right, Groomer, spill it. Where are the weapons?"

"Like I'm really gonna tell you, Rovers!"  
"Allow me, Huntie!" Colleen said, coming over to her. "HIYA, ALEC BALDWIN!" she knocked Groomer upside the face. "Well?"

"All right, they're with Parvo, he's loading them into his vehicle!"  
"Thank you so much," Colleen said sweetly. '

"You're welcome, Rovers!" Grommer said, pushing Colleen away and dashing off to the right.

"Should we go after her, Huntie?"

"Nope, we need to get the weapons. We'd better help Exile and Blitz.

Parvo was busy loading the weapons onto the trunk of his vehicle. But he became aware of a nosie behind him.

"Excuse me, creep, I do not think that belongs to you!"

Parvo quickly turned around. "Too late, Rovers. I got the weapons and there's nothing you can do!"  
"Oh yeah," Blitz said, stepping to the side as Exile had his hand on Muzzle's mask. Thy both said 'Let's Muzzle them!"

"NOOOOOOO!!" Parvo cried, rushing away as fast as he could as Muzzle proceeded to destroy th ship.

"Oh, Muzzle," Exile said, covering his eyes.

"The horror," Blitz said. When they opened their eyes, the ship had been destroyed and Muzzle was sitting happily amoung the remains.

"Where is Parvo?" Exile said, but a slight whirring sound came from just above and as they looked up another smaller ship was flying away.

Hunter and Colleen got to the ship just then and found the weapons. "To the power of the pack!" he said. Filled with hapiness at finally being together again, the Rovers gave one big group howl!

  



	27. The End

The song for this last chapter is 'Angel Eyes' by The Jeff Healy Band.

"I am thanking goodness you and Comrade Colleen arrived in nick of timski," Exile said happily

"Ja, me too. God only knows what would have happened had neither one of you been there!" Blitz said happily.

"I'm just glad Master was able to have the tube built in time, bro," Hunter said happily.

"I'll say," Colleen agreed. "We were beginning to miss you all quite a lot, though."

"Yeah, it was a nice vacation, but it's good to be back!"

"It's good to HAVE you back," Blitz said. "Both of you will never know how good you two are at Leading this team until we tried to do it."

"Duh, I agree," Exile said. "You two are the best for this team. That is why Master chose both of you. Neither one of us could hold fire to you!"

"Aw, that's nice, Exile. Thanks!" Hunter said happily.

When thy got back to Headquarters Master was waiting for them. He smiled big and wide when he saw ALL the Rovers gathering in the Main Room. "Welcome back, Rovers. You did a great job. I'm especially glad to see Hunter and Colleen back with us!"

"M too. I'm so glad the tube worked," Hubert said under his breath.

"Duh, Master. It would have been end of street for all of us if thy did not come!"

"Ja, Master. I did not think of how valuable they are until they come in nick of time to save us!" Just then a sound came from the computer room next door. Hubert went to check it out.

"It's for Blitz," Hubert said, coming back. "It's from Persia of the Space Rovers."

Blitz smiled. 'Uh..I should take that," and he raced from the room. Hunter and Colleen exchanged an amuzed look.

"I don't think we need to get his word in writing!" Hunter said, smiling.

Soon Master lead Hunter and Colleen down the hallway where the rooms were. "Hunter, Colleen, we just finished your new bedroom. We all worked on it. Hubert, myself, Exile, Blitz, and even Shag. Hope you like it." H opened the door and Hunter and Colleen entered. The room was big and lovely. It had the American flag on the left wall, and the Union Jack on the right. Many of Hunter's things from his room were set up underneath his flag, and many of Colleen's things were under hers. A huge bed was up against the back wall decorated with a red, white, and blue cover. A framed wedding picture was st up on the wall opposite it. For a moment Hunter and Coleen were spellbound.

"Master.." Hunter said, too overcome to speak. "This..this..is gorgeous."

"Abso-bloomin-lutely beautiful!" Colleen said. "Oh, Master, thank you!"

"I can't believe you all did this!" Hunter exclaimed

"Hope you do believe us now, Hunter," Master said. "When we say you're a dedicated and valuable member of this team..both you and Colleen are. And the Rovers would not be the Rovers without either one of you! No matter what, neither one of you will ever be replaced!"

Hunter and Colleen both hugged the Master. "Thank you!" Thy both said. Smiling, Master closed the door behind him as he left the room. Hunter smiled at Colleen and took hr in his arms.

"Colleen, I an honestly say I would NOT have predicted this…any of this!" H gathered her close. "I'm married to the most wonderful dog who I love more than anything on earth..we have this great new room.."he stared into her lovely blue eyes. "But the most important thing, Colleen, is were gonna still be Road Rovers together! "

Colleen smiled and took Hunter's hand. "Together forever, Huntie! I wouldn't have it any other way!"

"Nether would I, Colleen, I love you."

"I love you, too, Huntie. Forever."

"Always and forever," Hunter promised, gathering Colleen in his arms and kissing her deeply. The kiss grew deeper and more meaningful. He slid his arms around her back and lifted her in his arms. Thy stared into each other's eyes, knowing what the other was thinking. Slowly, slowly he carried her to the bed….

A little while later the Rovers were all having a special dinner cooked by Shag. Hunter and Colleen than stood up and Hunter tapped his tea cup to get attention. "OK, everyone! Colleen and I got something to say." Everyone got quiet. "First of all," he began, tilting his cup to Shag. "We want to thank Shag, Exile, and Blitz for putting together this wonderful dinner. This is the best 'Welcome Back' dinner ever!" Thee Rovers clapped happily.

"W would also like to thank Master," Colleen answered. "For pulling the strings he did to allow Hunter and I to stay on the team. Also for not getting to mad when w decided to elope."

Master smiled. "I could never b too mad and any of you. But I kind of thought this might happen eventually."

"Thank you, Master." Hunter said. "And I also want to thank my one true love, Collen, for standing by me and giving me her unconditional love,. I never knew what true love really meant until you came into it. I knew no matter where Clinton took me I could never truly be happy unless I was right beside you. I'll wonder every day for the rest of my life how I got to be so blssed to have you with m. I love you, always and forever!"

Colleen put down her teacup and threw her arms around Hunter kissing him with all the love in her hart. "Hunter, I love you, You are the true, honest love of me life. I never thought I could ever find anyone like you. You are the sweetest, kindest, most wonderful dog ever, and me life would be empty without you. I'll wonder every day how I got to b so blessed. I love you, Huntie, with all me heart, forever. Thy kissed again as the Rovers clapped. Exile started up a nearby radio and a slow love song started up. Hunter scooped Colleen in his arms as the lovely words filled their bodies and touched their souls.

__

Girl, you're looking, fine tonight,  
and every guy has got you in his sights.  
What you're doing, with a clown like me,  
is surely one of life's little, mysteries

So tonight I'll ask the stars above,  
"How did I ever win your love?"  
What did I do?  
What did I say,  
to turn your angel eyes my way?

Well, I'm the guy who never learned to dance,  
never even got one second glance  
Across a crowded room was close enough,  
I could look but I could never touch  
  
_So tonight I'll ask, the stars above,  
"How did I ever win your love?"  
What did I do?  
What did I say,  
to turn your angel eyes my way?_

Don't anyone wake me,  
if it's just a dream  
'Cause she's the best thing,  
_ever happened to me_

All you fellows, you can look all you like,  
but this girl you see, she's leavin' here with me tonight

There's just one more thing that I need to know,  
if this is love why does it scare me so?  
It must be somethin only you can see,  
'cause girl I feel it when you look at me

So tonight I'll ask the stars above,  
"How did I ever win your love?"  
What did I do?  
What did I say,  
to turn your angel eyes my way?

When the song ended Hunter kissed Colleen deeply, for just a moment forgetting where they were. But on thing WAS for sure. They had overcome what might have been one of the hardest things they would have had to go through..and they had done it together! They both knew that this was no doubt the ultimate test of their love. After these last few months, they knew they could get through anything. Any battles, any bad news, even more movies…as long as they were together! Together anything was possible!

Master smiled at this wonderful scene before him. "Welcome back, Hunter. Welcome back, Colleen. You're all good, good dogs!"


End file.
